History Highlights

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1983

  • Fenway is founded as a program for at-risk students at English High School in the Fens neighborhood of Boston. Enrollment: 90 (10th – 12th graders). Staff: 6.

1984

  • Enrollment increases to 180 students. Staff: 2 administrators, 12 teaching faculty.

1985

  • First graduating class

  • Develop integrated curriculum (English, history, social studies) for Social Issues pilot course.

  • Begin collaboration with “Facing History and Ourselves.”

1987

  • Begin research and teaching collaboration with Harvard Graduate School of Education.

  • Draft first mission statement, goals and action plan.

  • Receive first grant from Boston Globe Foundation.

1988

  • Establish Children’s Hospital Collaborative.

  • Pilot American Studies course, using team-teaching and performance-based assessment.

1989

  • Join Coalition of Essential Schools.

  • Move with English High School to Jamaica Plain.

1991

  • Move to Bunker Hill Community College and join national Middle College High School coalition.

  • Receive Lift-America award from U.S. Department of Labor for Children’s Hospital/Fenway collaboration.

  • Establish Fenway Board of Advisors, including parents, educational/business/community leaders and faculty, to advocate against pressures to close school.

  • Implement student advisory system, including every student at every grade level.

  • Create new model of teacher-training with full-time, on-site interns from Simmons College who co-teach in Fenway classrooms throughout the school year.

1992

  • Accept first 9th grade class.

  • Begin collaboration with CVS/pharmacy, with focus on math, science and pre-pharmacy.

  • Begin to use classroom portfolios and exhibitions as part of instruction and assessment.

1993

  • Become independent budget center/school program within Boston Public Schools.

  • Begin collaboration with Museum of Science.

  • Four staff members are named to the National Faculty of the Coalition of Essential Schools.

1994

  • Designated an Exemplar School by the Coalition of Essential Schools.

  • Implement Interactive Math Project (IMP) as basis for math curriculum.

  • Awarded Charter status by the state of Massachusetts. Awarded Pilot status by the city of Boston. Choose Pilot status and negotiate Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Boston Public School (BPS) district, ensuring instructional freedom, budget and staffing control, and shared governance with the Fenway Board of Trustees.

1995

  • Begin first year as BPS Pilot school with 250 students and staff of 30.

  • Found the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston to support the growing network of pilot schools.

  • Establish three “Houses,” each connected to an outside collaborator: CVS, Museum of Science, Children’s Hospital.

  • Receive two-year grant for Humanities team to implement American Social History Project.

1996

  • Named one of original ten New American High Schools by U.S. Department of Education.

  • Receive grant award from Boston Plan for Excellence to document and disseminate work in education reform.

  • Graduate first class of seniors by portfolio and exhibition.

  • Named “lead school” by Boston Plan for Excellence 21st Century Schools Initiative.

  • Featured in satellite broadcast of “National Education Issues” produced by Annenberg Institute for School Reform.

  • Establish Junior Review process for admission to Senior Institute.

1997

  • Engage in extensive strategic planning with Board of Trustees about need for larger facility and expanded community relationships.

1998

  • Move to 174 Ipswich Street in Fens neighborhood of Boston.

  • Larry Myatt, director, and Kothyn Evans-Alexander, assistant director, are invited to participate in national Distinguished/Aspiring Principals program.

  • One of seven schools nationwide to receive Kauffman Foundation grant to develop model entrepreneurship program for urban high schools; create the Fenway Ventures program.

  • Begin after-school enrichment programs funded by Trefler Foundation and academic support programs funded by Hayden Foundation.

1999

  • Featured in PBS television special on teaching math and science skills, co-produced by Harvard University and the Annenberg Institute.

  • Receive high marks during School Quality Review; BPS certification is renewed for four years.

  • Host national conference of 24 New American High School principals. Patricia McNeil, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, attends conference and conducts interview with ABC News on the importance of creating small learning communities like Fenway.

  • Featured in Boston Globe articles: “Student Proposal Pays Off” (about CVS/Fenway junior project that contributes to groundbreaking for a new CVS store in Roxbury); “A Success Story at Fenway High,” “No Forgiveness in MCAS,” “Unlikely Success Stories”(about students who do not test well but who succeed in college and work internships).
Fenway High School
174 Ipswich St.
Boston, MA 02215

Ph: (617) 635-9911
Fax: (617) 635-9204
fenway@boston.k12.ma.us