Boston's Success Boston Initiative: A Collaborative Model for College Completion

Success Boston represents an ambitious collaborative effort between the Boston Foundation, Boston Public Schools, the City of Boston, 37 area institutions of higher education, and local nonprofit partners, all working together to double the college completion rate for students from the Boston Public Schools system. To date, over 7,000 students have participated in Success Boston coaching, and these students are demonstrating higher rates of persistence and graduation from postsecondary education compared to their peers.

The initiative's comprehensive approach addresses educational equity beyond the K-12 system by focusing on post-secondary success, recognizing that true educational equity extends through college completion. In May 2022, Success Boston announced that its partners had committed to a new equity framework and recommitted to achieving a 70 percent college completion rate for all BPS graduates by the Class of 2030.

This ambitious goal reflects a growing understanding that educational equity requires sustained support throughout a student's academic journey, not just during their primary and secondary education years.

The success of this model lies in its collaborative structure, bringing together diverse stakeholders including higher education institutions, community organizations, and municipal government to create a comprehensive support system for students.