School Overview

Our mission is to utilize rigorous curriculum, extended academic time, and a range of supports for children and families to prepare 6th-12th grade students to succeed in college. An environment structured around scholarship and personal growth cultivates students' virtues of courage, compassion, integrity, perseverance, and respect.

Boston Preparatory Charter Public School (BPCPS) opened to its founding class in the fall of 2004. Now at full capacity, we serve 350 6th-12th graders. In a short time, BPCPS has succeeded in replicating systems from other high-performing schools which have led to remarkable student achievement. Currently in its seventh year, BPCPS has proven itself as one of the leading public schools in the nation. BPCPS students have made a tradition out of outperforming their peers across the city and state, on a variety of assessments.

  • On the 10th grade Math exam, 100% of students scored in the Advanced or Proficient Categories.
  • On the 10th grade ELA and Science exams, well over 90% of students scored Advanced or Proficient.

In 2009, the Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC), an initiative of New Leaders for New Schools, announced that BPCPS is one of the five highest performing schools in the country. In its study, EPIC performed a cross-state analysis of charter school achievement. Using a value-added model to analyze performance data from nearly 150 high-need charter schools across the country, EPIC identified schools that made the most dramatic gains in student achievement in 2007-2008. Lessons from BPCPS—captured in the EPIC study—are currently being disseminated to schools around the world.

An Ambitious Academic Program

BPCPS is a free, public school, offering a rigorous curriculum. First and foremost, we aim to prepare every student to succeed in college. This approach includes:

  • A 190 day school year.
  • An 8-hour school day.
  • Mandatory Saturday Academy for students who are failing core academic classes.
  • Several hours of nightly homework.
  • Mandatory Homework Center for students who do not complete homework.

The language of college preparation permeates our school: At BPCPS, each student's Homeroom is named for the college of one of their teachers. In their first month at BPCPS, all 6th graders participate in a videotaped, practice college interview.

Each BPCPS student is a member of a small advisory group. These groups meet twice a week. At these meetings, advisors help students to set academic and personal goals. Every Friday, parents receive progress reports which detail their students' grades in each of six core academic class. Standards are extremely high, yet our system of supports ensures that no student falls through the cracks.

A Unique School Character

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

This wisdom of the Greek philosopher Aristotle permeates BPCPS school culture. In their first week of school, students practice the "Call to Order," which begins and ends every lesson, and the "Hands Up," which adults use to gain immediate silence. They learn to "S.L.A.N.T.," which is a means of demonstrating respect, and is a research-based method of increasing learning.

BPCPS is safe and strict, with a required student uniform and disciplinary consequences for frequently overlooked misbehaviors such as disrespect and repeated class disruptions. At the same time, weekly ethics classes and a school-wide commitment to students' personal growth focuses attention on the virtues of courage, compassion, integrity, perseverance, and respect.

- Read the complete text of our commonwealth charter application. ( 1.8MB)

News & Events

BPCPS Juniors Raise Over $4,000 For Roman Empire Trip
This fall, the 11th grade class organized several group and individual fundraising efforts to help defray the costs of their Roman Empire Trip

BPCPS Founding Class Makes Decisions Final
100% of those students graduated from BPCPS, and are now in college

BPCPS Students Post Amazing 2011 MCAS Scores
Congratulations to the students, teachers and families of BPCPS for showing once again that effort determines success

Read more »