Boston Preparatory Charter Public School - Preparing Students to Succeed in College



	School Overview

	Who We Are

	Academic Achievements

	Information For Families

	Information About Employment

	Information for Investors

	News and Updates

	Contact Us

Boston Preparatory Charter Public School 1286 Hyde Park Ave Hyde Park, MA 02136 Tel: (617) 333-6688 Fax: (617) 333-6689 info@bostonprep.org Free PDF Reader

School Overview

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Boston Preparatory Charter Public School (BPCPS) received its charter from the Massachusetts Board of Education in February of 2003. BPCPS was one of only five schools to receive a charter, from an initial collection of 25 charter prospectuses. BPCPS was the only school focused exclusively on the city of Boston which received a charter.

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 will cultivate students' virtues of courage, compassion, integrity, perseverance, and respect.

We opened in the fall of 2004 with 110 6th graders. At full capacity, we will serve 350 6th-12th graders. Currently, we serve 270 6th-9th graders. In a short time, BPCPS has succeeded in replicating systems from other high-performing schools which have led to remarkable student achievement. BPCPS's affilitation with the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School has been of primary importance. BPCPS has also distinguished itself with notable refinements, including enhanced supports for learning, a substantive, all-inclusive enrichment program, and a uniquely New England-based school ethos, inspired by thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. Dubois, and Maria W. Stewart.

Boston neighborhoods including Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan are in dire need of outstanding schools. Parents in these communities are currently faced with few good choices. Neighborhood schools are too big and suffer programmatic deficiencies. Frustrated with such lack of opportunity, more than 700 Boston parents signed a petition in support of our charter application.

An Ambitious Academic Program

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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 8½ 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

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“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)