Students at inner-city and suburban high schools want equally to go to college, but do they get the same preparation and academic opportunities? A leadership class at Brighton High School took on this question, conducting surveys and focus groups with students in three city and three suburban Boston schools to see how academic expectations and course opportunities vary across the schools.

The student researchers purposefully chose schools that were in the “middle of the pack,” avoiding the highest and lowest performing urban and suburban schools. This, they felt, would provide the most balanced comparison. Still, the disparities they uncovered were stunning.

Early on, the students decided to videotape their focus groups and interviews with students. They turned the raw footage into a 25-minute video, The Problem We All Live With: Inequities between Boston’s Public and Suburban Schools, which is turning heads in Boston and elsewhere across the country.

The students will continue their research in the coming school year, comparing the same schools on a dozen indices ranging from the number of AP courses to physical facilities.

Team Bernice Fedestin, Jackie Jean, Marcos Posada, and Mekiesha Phillips (Students) Jessica Madden-Fuoco and Tom Haferd (Teachers) If you would like a DVD of the students’ video, The Problem We All Live With, please send us a note at studentresearch@whatkidscando.org

Excerpts from our video

Survey directions and questions [PDF]

Equal Educational Opportunity Guideines [PDF]

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