About BPIE

Helping students realize and achieve their full potential since 1966.

Our Values

"An Important Piece of the Pie"

Schools rely on many partners to support the whole student. Since 1966, we’ve been a critical piece of a complete Boston Public schools classroom. Our mentoring programs help BPS teachers maximize the number of students receiving individualized support during the school day. Our programs also address issues of access and inequity by offering mentoring support to any student in any subject and grade level.

"Education as an Equalizer"

Over 85% of the BPS student body are children of color. Every day, these students are forced to confront an opportunity gap that’s resulted from centuries of systemic racism in our country – a reality that has only been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re committed to leveling the playing field for students of color disproportionately affected by systemic racism. We aim to make education an equalizer by ensuring that students most impacted by educational inequity have access to the resources and support they need – regardless of their race, neighborhood, or home life.

"It Takes a Village"

We hear this phrase often from our BPS school partners. BPIE mobilizes the “village” to provide additional support to our city’s students. The BPIE logo references this mantra – it tells the story of how learning is the result of many factors all working together towards the same goal. Education, relationship-building, imagination, and community all coalesce to form the mentoring experiences we’re proud to create.

"Connecting Community to Classroom"

Above all, we’re connectors. Boston Partners in Education builds a bridge between classroom and community, so we can help close the opportunity and achievement gaps in our city’s public schools.

What separates BPIE from other mentoring programs?

  • SUPPORTING THE WHOLE STUDENT

      • Academic mentorship designed to support students’ academic achievement and socio-emotional growth so they can reach their full potential.

  • CONSISTENT AND ADAPTABLE

      • Ongoing mentoring sessions for the duration of the school year result in stronger student-mentor relationships and greater impact. Program delivery supporting both in-class and online learning allows mentors to meet students wherever learning takes place.

  • PROVEN PROGRAM MODEL

      • The only nonprofit partner offering academic and mentoring support to BPS students in every grade and subject area.

  • LONGSTANDING AND TRUSTED

      • Longest continuous nonprofit partnership with the Boston Public Schools – over 50 years of volunteer programming and community partnership guidance. 

Our History

Nearly 60 years ago, a national volunteer movement was gaining momentum in an effort to improve the American educational system. Here in Boston, a concerned group of community members took notice, forming Boston Partners in Education (then called School Volunteers for Boston or SVB) to help create greater educational parity for students in Boston’s public schools. When SVB began its official operations on March 14, 1966, it placed 28 volunteers in six Boston schools.

For the first time, students in Boston had a conduit to interact directly and positively with volunteers – mentors, career counselors, businesspeople and individuals working in higher educational institutions. Fostering these partnerships and exploring the possibilities for student enrichment and academic support became the trademark of these early years. Boston Partners in Education has since evolved to respond to the ever-changing educational and emotional needs of young people in the Boston Public Schools.

Today, our academic mentors make a commitment for the entire school year to work with students identified by teachers and families as needing extra academic support and attention. Though much has changed over five decades, our commitment to BPS has never wavered. Over fifty years later, BPIE proudly stands as the oldest active nonprofit partner of the Boston Public Schools.