The PIC’s research and evaluation team is responsible for managing internal data systems and for conducting research and evaluation studies that inform PIC policies and programs. PIC research focuses on education and workforce development issues. Studies have examined the college enrollment, persistence, and completion rates of BPS graduating classes, the youth labor market in Boston and Massachusetts, and the size and characteristics of the Opportunity Youth population. The PIC partners with academic researchers and other external research organizations to undertake research on education policy and labor market topics and evaluate the PIC’s interventions.
For more information, contact Joseph McLaughlin, Director of Research and Evaluation.
Latest Research – Postsecondary Enrollment, Persistence & Completion
Persisting Through the Pandemic and Beyond, a new report by the Boston PIC in collaboration with The Boston Foundation, shows that the college completion rates of Boston Public Schools (BPS) graduates from the Classes of 2018 and 2019 dipped slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but remain near recent trends.
To help prepare and advise BPS students and recent graduates for postsecondary education and training, having current information on college enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes is crucial. This report provides a comprehensive update, including disparities across gender and race-ethnic groups, that offers insights on how to continue to recover from the pandemic and improve student results.
Key findings:
- College enrollment is recovering but remains below pre-pandemic levels. First-year college enrollment rates increased from 54.6% for the Class of 2020 to 57% for the Classes of 2023 and 2024. However, enrollment is still about 10 percentage points lower than pre-COVID trends, with the largest declines among Black and Latino graduates.
- College completion rates remained relatively stable despite pandemic disruptions. Six-year college completion rates dipped to 50–51% for first-year enrollees from the BPS Classes of 2018 and 2019, whose college experiences were disrupted by COVID-19. This decline was smaller than expected.
- As is the case nationally, six-year college completion rates for BPS graduates vary considerably across types of institutions attended and their admissions selectivity. For the BPS Class of 2019, first-year enrollees who started at a two-year public institution had a 21% college completion rate. The six-year completion rate of first-year enrollees at four-year public institutions was 60%. The highest college completion rate was for those attending four-year private institutions (67.3%), many of whom attended very selective institutions.