School+Settings

Mario attends [|Boston International Newcomers Academy], a school designed for newly arrived immigrants. The school is located in Dorchester, Massachusetts. At the beginning of the school year, 275 students are enrolled and by the end of the year the enrollment caps at 450 students. New students arrive at the school everyday. The school provides SIFE classes, HILT classes, and SEI Classes. Students come from 44 different countries, however the majority of the student population are from the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, and Haiti.
 * __STUDENT A__ - Mario’s School:**

[|Boston International Report Card] Newcomers Academy Report Card

Xhorxhia attends the [|John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science] which is one of the three exam schools in the Boston Public School District. The school, located in the Roxbury neighborhood, has well over 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. It is a competitive school with a college preparatory curriculum focused on the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The school was not designed to serve the needs of English Language Learners and has had to adapt to serve these students. The ELL population is very small, making up only 5.3% of enrolled students. The ELLs who attend the O'Bryant gain entrance because they score very well on the math section of the Independent Schools Entrance Exam (ISEE). This compensates for their developing English language skills. The BPS exam schools do not require students to complete the essay section of the ISEE exam, a factor that allows ELLs to meet the minimum qualifying score. On the Spring 2011 MCAS English Language Arts assessment, 26% of students scored Advanced (A), 71% Proficient (P), and 3% Needs Improvement (NI). The student body is 37.9% Black, 28% Hispanic, 21.9% Asian and 11.1% White. In addition, 49.8% of students are considered Low-Income and qualify for free/reduced lunch. The O'Bryant is a Title I school.
 * __STUDENT B__ - Xhorxhia’s School:**