Will Austin

Lifelong Bostonian and educator. Running, hometeams, reading, #bospoli. Leading the team at @BosSchoolsFund. Tweets are mine.

[Will Austin @willfaustin]

Thanks @BostonGlobe @BrianBergstein for the opportunity to share decades of my life and work in Boston

[The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe]

In @GlobeIdeas: Where have Boston’s children gone? https://t.co/ruNk9BEMN3

[Welcome @TheWelcomeTeam]

The political marketplace is broken. Today, we’re fixing it.

Democrats have built an apparatus that spams supporters, enriches middlemen, and fuels "rage-bait" that actually hurts candidates in swing districts.

Here are the 7 Deadly Sins of the current landscape and why we’re launching Investing to Win.

[Alexander Russo @alexanderrusso]

"According to state data released last month, 1 in 4 Massachusetts public high school students are enrolled in some form of technical education (excluding “early college”)."

https://t.co/Jiu4jjFrNb

[Liam Kerr 🍍 @liamkerr]

Will Massachusetts take the lead in reining in sports betting addiction?

Must-read from @willfaustin

[Simon Bazelon @simon_bazelon]

Attention is not the problem.

The Democrats with the biggest social media followings did WORSE in 2024.

Our party's problems are substantive, not cosmetic.

[Simon Bazelon @simon_bazelon]

It's time to renew the Democratic Party.

Introducing DECIDING TO WIN: the most comprehensive account yet of where Democrats went wrong, and what we need to do to win again.

With a year of research and tons of new data, by @laurenhpope, @liamkerr, and me.

Link and 🧵 below.

[Michael Dannenberg @M_Dannenberg1]

Fun fact: The federal endowment tax applies only to colleges with over $500,000 in wealth per student. If colleges subject to the current endowment tax let in enough more students, they could escape the tax entirely. @ezraklein @mattyglesias @willfaustin https://t.co/91jaMZjeix

[The Grade @thegrade_]

"Question 2 appears to be yet another data point documenting a major political realignment in this country.  Higher educational attainment has become a significant marker for how many people identify politically and vote." -@willfaustin https://t.co/XLGVIcaMMH

[Michael Dannenberg @M_Dannenberg1]

“Setting clear goals, public leadership, creating monitoring systems, reinforcing culture, celebrating success, and empowering individual schools does not fit on a bumper sticker. But that is how you drive change.” - @willfaustin. https://t.co/UjyfZ2jkA2

[Boston Globe Opinion @GlobeOpinion]

Any intervention in response to recent MCAS results will go only so far without students frequently participating in class, writes @willfaustin. https://t.co/OhFARfe1hJ

[Maura Healey @maura_healey]

I’m voting No on 2 because no matter the community, every child deserves the highest quality education.

If Question 2 passes, we'll become one of two states that don’t have a statewide standard for graduation. The only standard remaining would be four years of gym.

[Boston Globe Opinion @GlobeOpinion]

There is an uncomfortable but true trade-off: Whatever real or perceived value of safety a cellphone may bring, it will most definitely mean a child will do worse in school academically and socially, writes @willfaustin. https://t.co/WmgRgJ3qxK

[Boston After School & Beyond @BostonBeyond]

"Closing the summer access gap is a potential path to closing achievement and opportunity gaps." Research shows that youth who attend 80% of summer programming will see better outcomes. We're honored to be featured in this piece by @willfaustin.
https://t.co/79HKJBeuoZ #summerlearning #summerforall

[Will Austin @willfaustin]

Page 2. https://t.co/WssxNRIFln. Even on a spot check, there are schools with no invitations where applicants averaged a B. No doubt, the GPA requirement means fewer students qualify but it doesn’t explain the total difference.

[Boston Globe Corrections Desk @Globe_Correct]

@willfaustin Very interesting - didn’t the number of applicants from Year Z of the old policy to Year 1 of the new policy approximately halve? (Without looking it up, something like 2,200 -> 1,200?)

If you could point to where that data appears in the court record, would love to review it.

[Will Austin @willfaustin]

I thought the same thing! But when I extrapolated from the GPA data provided for the 2021 court case, I found that the vast majority of students in the former admission system had B averages are higher, too. Thank you for amplifying my work!

[Boston Globe Corrections Desk @Globe_Correct]

Although Will’s op-ed in @GlobeOpinion gets the big things right, it misses the real reason exam school applications are down. Under the old system, any student - even academically poor ones - could apply. The new GPA minimum weeds out a lot of no-chance applicants.

#bospoli

[Will Austin @willfaustin]

Why are fewer kids applying to Boston’s exam schools? https://t.co/jlvZIPG48s

[Michael Jonas @bostonjonas]

New from @willfaustin of @BosSchoolsFund: State should not double down on regressive lottery by adding online gambling.

[Will Austin @willfaustin]

There are no winners with an online lottery. Let’s find a better way to raise revenue, Massachusetts. #mapoli https://t.co/1Nxg4Hi4Ca

[BostonPublicSchools @BostonSchools]

Thank you to the @BosSchoolsFund who announced Wednesday at the Rafael Hernandez School the first recipients of the PEAK investment, which is part of a $2.3M initiative over the next three years. Among these recipients are the @hernandezK8sch, @SamuelAdamsEB, and @SumnerBPS