Boston Day and Evening Academy engages young adults to build a vision for their future through supportive relationships and meaningful competency-based learning experiences.

Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) is an in-district alternative Boston Public high school located in Roxbury. Our mission is to engage young adults ages 16–22 in building a vision for their future through supportive relationships and competency-based learning. BDEA started as a diploma-granting night program in 1995 and became a BPS Horace Mann Charter School in 1998.

BDEA was designed for students ages 16-22 who have been disengaged from their education and not well-served by traditional school models. Every student who enrolls at BDEA  is undercredited relative to their same age-peers and faces life circumstances that prevent them from showing up to school consistently. 

BDEA utilizes a competency-based academic model, offering both a flagship program and BDEA 2.0, a work-based learning model. Our postgraduate planning team coordinates college and career exploration workshops, paid internships, post-secondary access support, and credit-earning courses at higher education institutions. We also provide access to comprehensive services that support our students’ physical and emotional well-being. 

The majority of our students would likely not have graduated without a school like BDEA, which results in $9,984 more in annual earnings compared to those without a high school diploma (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). In school year 2024-25, we are proud to have achieved the following:

• Seventy-six students graduated – a nearly 50% increase from the prior year.
• 56% of graduates are attending a 2- or 4-year college, 30% enrolled in career training programs, 12% entered internships or the workforce. One student joined the military, and one student is taking a gap year to focus on grassroots organizing.
• We have an alumni network of 1,350.