THE YEAR AT A GLANCE
Dear friends,
The 2022–2023 school year was another important step toward normalcy. It felt like the first extended opportunity we had to do less reacting and to turn our full attention to what we do best—teaching and learning.
Our challenges in 2022–2023 were not unique to Brooke, and included issues like lower student and staff attendance, increased mental health challenges for students and staff, and the continued impact of student learning loss created by the year plus of remote learning.
Yet, how we responded to these challenges were unique to Brooke, including:
▪ Building strong cultures of achievement in each of our schools
▪ Launching a 5-year curriculum project to strengthen our academic offerings across all subjects in grades K–8 through identifying high-quality external curriculum and curating the best content we have developed over 20 years at Brooke
▪ Creating a new Alumni Fund to directly support our college students facing unexpected financial needs that threaten their path to graduation
Through our combined efforts, we are confident that our students will not only return to their pre-pandemic levels of achievement, but will surpass them.
With gratitude,
Jon Clark
Co-Director
Brooke Charter Schools
Kimberly Steadman
Co-Director
Brooke Charter Schools
Merry Boak
Board Chair
Brooke Charter Schools
Knowing Our Students
Knowing our students is at the core of great teaching. Brooke teachers put relationships at the forefront of their work, connecting with our scholars’ families, learning about their ancestry, understanding their interests, and celebrating their achievements. We believe that challenging our students relies on knowing them well.
Our Community
With relationships at the core, getting to know our community was a priority for our staff this year. Whether it was the first day of school, family day, or identity celebrations—this year clearly reflected a passion to celebrate our students and uplift them to create not only a safe, welcoming, and empowering community, but also one that enriches learning.
“Brooke makes my child feel known by allowing him to achieve at his pace, but also pushing him to be his best. It makes me happy knowing he's safe with the adults here in the building no matter if it's his homeroom teacher, a co-curricular teacher, even middle school teachers that haven't taught him yet!"
–MS. GIBSON
BROOKE ROSLINDALE PARENT AND SIXTH GRADE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER
“Brooke’s outstanding curriculum equips my children with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel academically and fosters their ability to secure future scholarships at prestigious universities. With this educational foundation, my children's future is destined to be bright, competitive, and prosperous."
–KETHIA BEAUSEJOUR
BROOKE EAST BOSTON PARENT
“
When a scholar enters my classroom, I want them to feel the care and love that I have for them and their family. I am eager to learn more about what makes them who they are every day and strive to have open communication with each family."
–CHRISTINE WOLFENDEN
BROOKE MATTAPAN SECOND GRADE TEACHER
Growing
Our Mindset
Growth mindset is fundamental at Brooke. We coach teachers and students to focus on effort and the learning process rather than striving for perfection. Growth mindset is especially important now because both adults and children need resilience to overcome the disruptions to learning over the last few years.
Our Impact
While our teachers worked hard to academically challenge our scholars this past year, we have more work to do to strengthen our academics to make up for pandemic learning loss.
For that reason, we began a five-year curriculum alignment project to codify the best available curriculum resources in all subject areas and standardize implementation across our schools, making lesson planning more efficient and collaborative for teachers while also raising the learning bar for students.
MCAS Results
While Brooke student achievement on MCAS has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, students are making progress in all subjects. Over the next few years, our goal is to surpass pre-pandemic achievement levels such that Brooke student achievement makes ours one of the best schools in the state.
Grades 3–8 average
Achievement Percentile** shown over time
*2020–2021 data is unavailable because of COVID-related test cancellations and irregularities.
**Achievement Percentile reflects where a school ranks in the state using its average scaled MCAS scores, so in ELA in 2023 Brooke students performed better than 80% of schools in the state.
More Results
Brooke High School students took nearly 600 Advanced Placement exams in total!
Brooke students significantly outperformed Boston, Chelsea, and state averages on MCAS in grades 3–8.
We are the top openenrollment public high school in Boston , based on Brooke High School's MCAS results for math, ELA, and science.
More Black students at Brooke exceeded expectations than in all of Boston Public Schools, based on scores from grades 3–8.
Class of 2023 Graduation
Brooke High School celebrated 94 scholars of the Class of 2023 who graduated on June 8, 2023.
The Brooke High Class of 2023 created strong bonds that led to their commencement highlighting themes of comfort, joy, memories—home.
Members of this class referenced having their sophomore year interrupted by remote learning, which resulted in their urgency to bond when they returned to in-person school in the fall of 2021.
OUR SCHOLARS ARE MATRICULATING TO
▪ Boston University
▪ Columbia
▪ Howard University
▪ MCPHS
▪ Morehouse College
▪ Northeastern
▪ Penn State
▪ Simmons University
▪ The UMASS Campuses
▪ Wentworth
“
We heal together. Creating stronger bonds and helping each other, which made us grow together not only as friends, but as a family.”
–HANSLY REMFORT CLASS SPEAKER, 2023
BROOKE ALUMNI BY THE NUMBERS
Our Alumni
Brooke High’s 2023 graduates join a growing group of Brooke alumni determined to find their place in the world and make an impact. As this group grows each year, we recognize the need to provide even more robust post-secondary advising services.
Alumni services
For over a decade, our post-secondary team has been providing individualized advising to Brooke alumni, supporting them to address needs related to financial aid, mental health, academic engagement, campus belonging, and career planning, all toward the goal of graduating college within six years.
Alumni fund
This past year, we launched the Brooke Alumni Fund Pilot—a new initiative to support our students to succeed in college. The fund specifically targets alleviating small, unforeseen expenses for our alumni, which research shows can greatly impact their persistence as firstgeneration college students of color.
116
BHS alumni currently attending college
BROOKE STUDENTS IN COLLEGE
66
Either major in or intend to declare a STEM major
41
Different schools are currently attended by BHS Alumni
94
Brooke Alumni received grants
BROOKE ALUMNI FUND
100+ $90K
Grants awarded to students
In grant dollars provided to students
“
I am proud of myself for reaching out when I need help. Sometimes I struggle a lot with staying focused on my schoolwork and not getting discouraged. I feel like I have changed a lot and it has made my college experience so much better because I find ways to stay focused on my goals and motivation for school.”
–GIANIA LA PAZ
Donors
$25K or more
Anonymous (1)
Cabot Family Charitable Trust
Carla DeSantis*
Jacob and Elizabeth Grossman
One8 Foundation
Baldwin Politi Family
Josef Rettman
Mackenzie Scott
Toolbox Foundation
Under $25K
Anonymous (2)
Brett and Kate Alessi
Amazon Smile (5)
Kenechuku Anadu
Nancy Ash and John Vlahos
Vivian Beard
Hilary Berkman
Laurie Berlin and Edward Deicke
Kenneth Bettenhauser
Christopher Bizzacco and Victoria Criado
Meredith Boak* and Josh Biber
Ann Borne
Emily Burnor
Bart Bussink and Ann Jenkins
Lauren Cahill
Levin and Eleanor Campbell
Kathy Choi and John J-H Kim
Jesse Clark
Dr. Joel P. Clark
Jon Clark and Kimberly Steadman
Steve Conine
Judith Cowin
Isabella Cucchi
Custom Ink
Mairead and Bob Doherty
Thomas and Ellen Draper
Emily and Evan Dvorin
Michael and Margaret Elizondo
Laurel and Ken Ferretti
Alex and Amy Finkelstein
Jim and Nancy Freehling
Jonathan Garland*
Andys Gonzalez
Nicole Grandinetti and Joshua Bolduc
Falon Gray and William Aust
Jacob* and Liz Grossman
Dionne Harden
Tom and Emily Haslett
Jen Holleran and Andrew Clark
Elizabeth Hooley
Frank and Nada Isler
Kristi Jobson
Charlotte Kelly
Meryl Kessler and Scott Oran
Pat and Alan Kessler
Rona Kiley
Hannah and Jeffrey Krafchick
Kroikdas & Bluestein Attorneys
Daniel Leist
Lerner & Holmes PC
Andrew Locke
Chuck and Susie Longfield
Divya Mani and Vicente Piedrahita
Emily Marsh
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Means Wealth Management
Katie and Ben Megrian
Jason Moens*
Peter Munkenbeck
Ralph Neas
Thomas O'Rourke Jr.*
Janet and David Offensend
Madavi and Gaugarin Oliver
Nancy Porter Morrill
Sandhya Rao and Andrew Strobert
Jill Reynolds and Rich Frost
Susan Rudnicki
Todd and Rachel Safferstone
LaTasha* and Thaddieus Sarpy
Carolyn and Paul Sax
Michael, Sara and Sally Schnitzer
Doug Shaughnessy
Derri Shtasel and Gary Gottlieb
Anna Sikorsky
Bert and Elizabeth Snyder
Susan Snyder and Paul Giragos
Ruth Spack
Laurence Spang and Susan Marsh
Ann and Steve Sparkes
Brian and Stephanie Spector
Ben Starr
John and Prof. Sharilyn Steadman
David Stolow
Richard and Elizabeth Swartz
Elena Thurman
Jennifer Toll
Michael and Nancy Tooke
Anne Nancy Traiser
Dike Udensi
Christine Vincenti
Don Waldman
Jane and Wayne Walker
Suzanne Wang
Jordan Warshaw
Benjamin Whipple and Carol Gladstone
Kim Wilcox
Natasha Williams*
Dudley Willis
Mary Wissemann and Andrew King
Christopher Wright
Kate Wright Apfelbaum and Andrew Wright
Morning Drop-off
Drawing a Portrait
Independent Reading
Study Hour Recess Music Class
Brooke Mattapan