Boston’s Small ‘Pilot’ Schools Found to Outperform Others

Boston’s experiment with small, autonomous public schools appears to be paying off in higher test scores, attendance, and college-going rates, a report sponsored by supporters of the schools concludes.

Students in the city’s network of 19 “pilot” schools—set up through a partnership between the Boston school district and its teachers’ union—outperformed their counterparts in the city’s regular public schools on various indicators of student engagement and performance, the study says.

The report comes amid an ongoing dispute over the schools between the teachers’ union and district officials that has...