Who We Are

Mission

The mission of Boston Collegiate is simple yet ambitious: to prepare each student for college.

Vision Statement

Our vision is that all Boston Collegiate students will graduate empowered to choose their own directions, with options aligned with their passions and interests. They will be equipped not only to go to college, but to thrive there, and they will possess the leadership skills and mindsets necessary to make an impact in their communities and the world.

To achieve this vision of our graduates, Boston Collegiate will be academically rigorous, equitable, and inclusive. Boston Collegiate will create opportunities for each student to thrive and will cultivate curiosity, empathy, and the unique talents that each student brings. Boston Collegiate will be a beacon of the twin pillars of scholarship and belonging, and thus a national model for what integrated education can look like at its best.

Our History

In the fall of 1997, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government graduates, Brett Peiser and Susan Fortin, met former State Senator and now U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch. Together, they imagined a safe, academically rigorous public school that would offer children from every Boston neighborhood the opportunity to receive an education that would prepare them for college.

They embarked upon a rigorous selection process that began with the submission of a proposal to the Massachusetts Department of Education outlining their ideas for a school including curriculum, operations, governance, and accountability. In February 1998, a charter was granted and the process of building a school began: in only six weeks the founders recruited 240 applicants for the initial 120 open spots and hired a staff of nine founding teachers. Four months after receiving the charter, Boston Collegiate Charter School (originally founded as South Boston Harbor Academy) opened for its first summer session.

Boston Collegiate has grown from 120 students in fifth through seventh grade to 700 students in fifth through twelfth grade. The school has been recognized as a leading middle and high school in Massachusetts and around the country with 100% of its graduating seniors being accepted into college. In December 2017, the Board of Education unanimously awarded Boston Collegiate its fifth five-year charter through June 2023.

For more information on charter schools in Massachusetts, please visit www.masscharterschools.org.

Our Core Values

To be the best school we can be in pursuit of this mission, we hold ourselves to these core values:

Scholarship

  • We think with confidence across different fields of thought.
  • We solve novel challenges and take on real problems.
  • We challenge each other out of our deep regard for one another.
  • We strive for excellence.

Belonging

  • We listen deeply and take the time to know each other.
  • We celebrate diversity and work to ensure that our community belongs to each of us.
  • We take pride in and ownership over our community and how it is experienced by each of us.
  • We willingly confront bias in ourselves and in others.
  • We strive for an equitable community, knowing that we don’t all start from the same place.

Passion

  • We learn, teach, and work with joy whenever possible.
  • We are curious and we encourage curiosity in others.
  • We work hard and bring our full effort to bear on our work and the changes we want to see in our community and in the world.

Responsibility

  • We own our mistakes and use them as opportunities to learn.
  • We are accountable for our actions and we hold others accountable.
  • We enthusiastically help those around us and willingly accept help ourselves.
  • We reflect in order to learn and grow.
  • We demonstrate good judgment.
  • We view ourselves as agents of change and step up to make the world better.

Integrity

  • We communicate with honesty, authenticity, warmth, and kindness.
  • We tell the truth and we strive to make truth-telling safe for others.
  • We express gratitude for the work of others.

Our Strategic Plan

Boston Collegiate’s three-year strategic plan spanning FY24 through FY26 pursues ambitious goals that respond to urgent issues in education, build institutional resilience, and position Boston Collegiate to lead as an equitable and integrated school. Review our vision for the future here.