Founders' Story

Young Achievers’ History:

Pursuing Social Justice through Academic Excellence & Responsible Leadership

Young Achievers was one of the six original “Pilot Schools” founded in 1995. Our founders -  composed of teachers, concerned citizens, and community leaders - crafted a proposal for Young Achievers which outlines a K-8 school, where students and teachers would be engaged in project-based investigations in math and science and use new technologies skillfully. The founders were committed to creating a school where eighth graders would graduate with all the necessary skills in math and science to study the college preparatory math and science sequence in high school, and then go on to study in college.

The Boston Public School district has transformed Young Achievers from a small citywide school into a large and diverse school, enrolling students primarily from the East Zone. In 2009, we took over the underachieving Lewenberg Middle School (our current location) and in 2011 integrated a strand of Spanish speakers who were English Language Learners. In 2016, our school became a primary receiving school for students graduating from the Lee Academy Pilot School, a fully inclusive K-3rd grade early learning center.

The founders always envisioned that Young Achievers would provide all Boston children access to an excellent K-8 education, including those with special needs. Young Achievers is a fully inclusive school serving students with special learning, language, and social-emotional needs, and boasts a diverse student body and teaching staff.

Pilot School Overview

The Boston Public Schools’ pilot schools are the result of a unique partnership launched in 1994 among the former and late Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Boston School Committee, Superintendent, and the Boston Teachers Union (BTU). The pilot schools were explicitly created to be models of educational innovation and to serve as research and development sites for effective urban public schools.

Boston is now home to 21 pilot schools as well as In-District Charter and Innovation Schools, serving more than 10,000 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Pilot schools are part of the Boston Public School district but have autonomy over budget, staffing, governance, curriculum/assessment, and the school calendar to provide increased flexibility to organize schools and staffing to meet the needs of students and families.