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Globe reporters @malcolmgay, @MeghanIrons, and @ELMoskowitz reported on Boston’s valedictorians for more than a year. By the end, we were all asking, “Is Boston failing its brightest students?” globe.com/valedictorians (1/15)
The Valedictorians Project, as it came to be known, all started by wondering what happened to the kids on this “Faces of Excellence” page we do each year. 
They wanted this project to be data driven (h/t @toddwallack) and created a uniform set of questions to ask every valedictorian. For good measure, they created a similar survey for valedictorians from suburbia. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
The difference between the Boston valedictorians and their suburban counterparts was striking. For instance, while 35% of suburban valedictorians earned more than $100,000 a year, 40% of Boston valedictorians earned less than $50,000 annually. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
There were success stories, to be sure. One valedictorian literally escaped the Taliban to rise to the top of her class. One cofounded a teen leadership program in China … while studying at Harvard.
Others met serious hardship. At least four have been homeless. One spent time in prison. Another is dead.
But many more have ended up like Michael Blackwood, who has created a very successful life as an army staff sergeant, but a far cry from the doctor he promised he’d become after his mother died in childbirth. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
And he’s not alone. None of the valedictorians we covered have become doctors (though two are in medical school). apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
So what’s going on? First is that the exam schools create an unequal system: By some measures, they are ranked among the top 10 public high schools in the state. None of the district’s other 30 or so high schools even ranks in the top 50. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
It’s also a racially segregated system. Whites and Asians are 25% of the school district, yet made up 75% of seventh-graders entering Boston Latin last school year. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
The transition to college is incredibly hard for these students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend. They don’t have the same support system as other students, and one wrong move often could implode their college careers.
apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
Then there’s life after college, which for at least four of the valedictorians contained homelessness. Madelyn Disla, for instance, found herself living in a homeless shelter with her young son soon after graduating from Dartmouth. apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
So now what? After spending all this time researching what’s wrong, several Globe reporters have ideas on how to make sure future valedictorians don’t have so many obstacles blocking their success: apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graph…
And we'd love to hear what you think Boston can do to fix the inequity in the public school system: bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/01/…
