Opinion: Where will New Bedford schools be by 2030?

As I write — with fewer than 130 school days left — more than 13,000 New Bedford students are following schedules, making discoveries, and confronting challenges each day.

However, recent headlines about public education have followed a familiar pattern: declarations of crisis, followed by demands for new laws, greater oversight, and quick fixes. “Progress and recovery have stalled,” read the stories accompanying this year’s MCAS results.

None of these reactions should be dismissed — they reveal genuine concern — but we must recognize their limits. We must reflect on what we’ve learned from a quarter century of education reform. School improvement that lasts cannot be compelled from the outside; it must be fostered from within. Real progress takes time, coherence, and commitment to the daily work that happens in classrooms. This is the primary message of our new Strategic Plan for NBPS 2025–2030.

A lesson learned from our record levels of building renovation is that improvement can’t wait for the perfect moment — it occurs while school is already in motion.

Our NBPS 2030 Strategic Plan sets four goals, reflecting the sustained, coherent work underway each day in New Bedford, tied to a theory of action with accompanying indicators that define how progress happens.

We plan to:

• Ignite Learning – ensuring every classroom delivers strong, engaging instruction.
• Empower Educators – supporting teachers, staff, and leaders to grow in their craft.
• Unite Families and Community – building authentic partnerships that connect schools to the city they serve.
• Navigate the Future – managing systems, resources, and facilities responsibly to sustain our progress.

In describing models of best practice, the plan also elevates accountability, data, and assessment. A national and state education system without assessment and accountability would be something new — and unwelcome. We should all be concerned by the dismantling and neglect of federal education statistics and assessments, including NAEP. The U.S. Department of Education has even ended the National Blue Ribbon Program — a distinction earned by New Bedford High School in the 1980s and, more recently, by Congdon Elementary.

There is nothing to fear from external accountability and data, which can often attest to our successes and help define our context. We’ve moved past relying solely on MCAS and ignoring student needs. Any serious voice in education understands that out-of-school factors — like poverty and risk exposure — deeply influence in-school performance. One can see a growing emphasis on incremental targets and recognizing schools that are truly changing students’ lives.

As we invest overdue state aid in student supports and more, we can better ask: Which schools are beating the odds? If we look at large, non-exclusionary districts — open to all, often at minimum funding — which are exceeding expectations despite barriers? This is a very selective filter, and the 2025 MCAS results show very few such schools statewide — but there are several in New Bedford.

Multi-year data from these buildings show a model of real success — one that takes time, is predicted by past success, and where a highly qualified, resilient, stable staff has more value than any silver-bullet solution. Educators, leaders, curriculum, data use, attendance, behavior supports, inclusive practices, and family engagement must all remain in balance over the long term.

But perhaps most important of all is knowing — as we say in New Bedford — that our students can do hard things. While across the state there are fears of stalled progress, New Bedford Public Schools set an expectation — and prove — that higher achievement is attainable. As one New Bedford principal puts it:

“What’s driven positive student outcomes have definitely been the high expectations that we hold our students and staff to… The mindset is not just going to be that 80% of students will learn. We have changed those mindsets to be that 100% of our students will grow.”

Every month, the New Bedford School Committee’s Academic Achievement Subcommittee offers ample proof that the components of school success have been developed, financed, and are emerging across buildings, grade-level teams, and classrooms. Our Strategic Plan seeks to carefully expand, sustain, and support our vision for such resilient schools.

The plan requires ongoing engagement with educators, families, and community partners across the city. It also asks for better listening and learning by a district accountable to the community. A live framework, it will be informed and evolve according to comprehensive surveys, measurable indicators, and a website dashboard that will track attendance, achievement, and more.

We invite you to review the plan and join us in shaping its next chapter. From this busy school year to school year 2030, your partnership will ensure that our students, educators, and community get to write the future of New Bedford Public Schools.

Andrew O’Leary is superintendent of New Bedford Public Schools.