The Boston Arts Academy is one of eleven Boston Pilot Schools, within the Boston Public Schools. The Pilot Schools originated as a result of the 1994 Boston Teachers Union approved contract. "The purpose of establishing pilot schools is to provide models of educational excellence that help to foster widespread educational reform in all Boston public schools. Through this initiative, the Superintendent, the Boston School Committee, and the Boston Teachers Union hope to improve dramatically the educational learning environment and thereby improve instructional practice and student performance." (BPS Pilot School Program Manual: Innovation In Action, 1995). Essentially, Pilot Schools were created to be a research and development arm of the Boston Public Schools, to develop best practices and to be a catalyst for change that could be transferred to the rest of the system. The Center for Collaborative Education serves as the coordinating organization for the Pilot Schools.



Conditions for Learning

At a 1998 meeting, sponsored by the Center for Collaborative Education, of Deputy and Assistant Deputy Superintendents, Cluster Leaders, and Pilot School Directors, it was agreed that perhaps the most important innovation of Pilot Schools was the conditions for learning by which they can operate. While most BPS schools have at least one innovative practice they can point to, the following conditions for learning that Pilot Schools have enable them to implement more innovative practices more of the time. The following conditions for learning were identified by this group as critical for promoting schools to become laboratories of educational innovation:

• The ability to hire and excess staff
  
  
• Annual per pupil lump sum budget
  
  
• Ability to set working conditions
  
  
• Flexibility in adopting the BPS Learning Standards and Textbooks
  
  
• Diverse and inclusive governance structures
  
  
• Accountability
  
  
• Being a member of a network of like-minded schools