Research & Insights / William Monroe Trotter School: A 2026 School on the Move Semifinalist

William Monroe Trotter School: A 2026 School on the Move Semifinalist

The ten semifinalists for the 2026 School on the Move Prize are excellent examples of the conditions of sustainable school improvement EdVestors’ research has identified. Please join us at the Prize Ceremony on November 10th!

The William Monroe Trotter School in Roxbury serves 360 students, with over 90% of students identified as Black and Latinx, 94% as high needs, 33% multilingual learners, and 37% are students with disabilities. In the aftermath of COVID, the Trotter faced high rates of chronic absenteeism, inconsistent curriculum implementation, and a rapidly growing population of multilingual learners. With a focus on a few high-leverage strategies, the Trotter has seen growth in achievement, climate, and attendance.

The Trotter’s improvement first focused on building teacher capacity through collective efficacy, vulnerability, and shared accountability. School leaders and teachers have developed opportunities for teachers to openly reflect on practice, analyze student data, and strengthen instruction through collaborative coaching cycles and professional learning communities. By building on district-supported professional learning and leveraging the collective expertise of staff across ESL, SPED, and ABA, educators have taken on shared responsibility for student outcomes, with the Trotter’s school accountability percentile increasing from 10 in 2024 to 17 in 2025. Teacher climate data shows growth in favorable perceptions of professional learning, moving from 26% in 2022 to 81% in 2024. Teachers also reported substantial gains in valuing colleagues’ ideas, influencing their own professional learning (from 10% to 78%), and learning new strategies through collaboration (from 25% to 85%).

Over the past three years, the Trotter has prioritized instruction for multilingual learners through high-leverage, schoolwide practices. This includes activating its Quality School Plan by partnering with district coaches and liaisons to implement instructional practices that strengthen Tier 1 instruction across all classrooms. Through targeted professional learning and ongoing progress monitoring, teachers deepened their understanding of the WIDA Standards and the four language domains, improved access to rigorous curriculum for multilingual learners and students with disabilities, and developed a replicable, schoolwide model for accelerating student achievement. ACCESS data demonstrates the impact on the percentage of MLs making progress, increasing from 40% in 2021 to 83.7% in 2026 across all grade levels and ESL service delivery levels.

Third, the Trotter has focused on improving student attendance by building a strong culture of belonging. Shifting from “compliance to connection”, the Trotter focused on implementing a culturally responsive, multi-tiered system of support grounded in proactive family engagement and collaboration. Listening to student voices, they introduced attendance circles, which 60% of students found helpful. Through consistent outreach, multilingual communication with families, culture-building activities like field trips, targeted interventions, and shared accountability among staff, families, and school teams, the school strengthened relationships, increased student connectedness, and supported sustainable growth in attendance. Chronic absenteeism has decreased from 63% in 2022 to 39% in 2025.