METCO students prepare to sing on the Grand Staircase during a lobbying day in 2023 for the voluntary school integration program. Rep. Chris Worrell, a METCO graduate, poses for a photo with them. (Sam Drysdale/State House News Service)

PARTICIPANTS IN the METCO program that sends Boston students to suburban high schools saw higher test scores and better career and higher education outcomes compared to those who did not get into the popular program, according to a new 20-year study of METCO data. 

“Enrolling in high performing suburban schools generates large and lasting gains for METCO participants,” according to the report prepared by Elizabeth Setren, a Tufts University economist.   

METCO students earned higher math and English test scores, were suspended less, attended school more, and saw increases in on-time high school graduation, according to the report. But the study had sobering findings on college completion rates.

The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity program initially began in 1966 to combat school segregation by busing Boston students into suburban school districts. Some 60 years later, Black students are still overrepresented in the program. Black students, who account for 28 percent of Boston Public Schools students, make up about 75 percent of all METCO participants, with Hispanics students accounting for a little less than 20 percent of the program. Asian and White student participation is vanishingly small.  

METCO remains broadly popular for offering access to more advanced coursework and exposure to high-achieving peers with higher expectations of college attendance. It claims a number of well-known graduates, including former Boston officials Kim Janey and Tito Jackson.

The program has faced critiques over the years, and the report acknowledges several of them – practical transportation costs and travel time, difficulties for parents and children in getting involved with after-school activities in distant districts, the risks of “increased discrimination or lower expectations” through suspension, student tracking, and reduced teacher expectations.  

The report was conducted through a partnership between METCO, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It tracked about 20,000 students who applied for METCO and entered first grade between 2002 and 2016.

METCO has long drawn more applicants than seats available, with students accepted into the program by lottery. In order to ensure that it was comparing outcomes among similar students, the study evaluated students who applied to METCO and received an offer to participate versus those who applied at similar ages and had similar traits but did not land seats.

Academically, METCO seems to offer general bumps in performance. METCO students were 6 to 10 percentage points more likely to “meet expectations” in English language arts MCAS testing. They were 14 percent more likely to take the SAT and perform relatively well – 15 percent more likely to score above 1,000 and 7 percent more likely to to score above 1,200 – but the difference between METCO and non-METCO students vanishes at the top score levels. 

METCO students also were no more likely to take Advanced Placement exams or score well on them than non-METCO counterparts.

The report found more consistent differences in student behavior, though the results were somewhat mixed. METCO increased student attendance by about 2 to 4 days. While METCO lowers the likelihood students are suspended by about one-third for middle and high school grades and two-thirds for elementary grades program, “students from Boston are more likely to be suspended than their suburban peers,” according to the presentation.

METCO student presence did not impact suburban student MCAS test scores, attendance rates, and suspension rates. “The analysis shows no indication that concerns about negative academic or behavioral effects from having Boston METCO peers are warranted,” the study said.   

When thinking about the future, METCO students were 17 percent more likely to aspire to attend a four-year college. 

“This shift in college expectations may be an important factor leading to the strong increase in college going because effects are largest for students whose parents did not graduate college,” Setren wrote. At the same time, the study found “METCO participation increases the likelihood that students are tracked to lower performing classes [in suburban high schools]. It is possible that the programs’ effects could be larger with access to more advanced coursework.”

Actual enrollment in four-year colleges was also 17 percent higher among METCO participants, who were generally more likely to attend any higher educational institution than students who applied but did not enter METCO.  

Though they stayed longer at higher educational institutions than their peers, and were more likely to graduate, the METCO students still saw “substantial drop off in enrollment” over time, with only half of METCO participants still enrolled in any college by the 7th semester. 

There is room for improvement, Setren notes. Districts should be attentive to the disparity in suspensions between METCO students and their suburban peers, examine whether METCO students are able to enroll in more advanced courses, and offer additional SAT and college support.

Jennifer Smith writes for CommonWealth Beacon and co-hosts its weekly podcast, The Codcast. Her areas of focus include housing, social issues, courts and the law, and politics and elections. A California...