Cambridge Public Schools

My very thoughtful friend Eugenia is running for School Committee in Cambridge. I'm a big fan of her and her slogan:

"Every child deserves a great education."

Eugenia saw Locovote and thought there might be an opportunity to collaborate.

For Cambridge, I think it makes sense to compare schools using test score progress and race-balanced progress measures. I include test score levels since this is how schools are often compared. If you're curious to learn more about the pros and cons of the various measures see the school metrics page.

Each point in the plots below represents a public school in Cambridge. You can hover over the points for more information including school name. Check the box below if you want to label the points.

Test Score Progress

Test Score Levels

The Data

Conclusions

The MCAS test scores coming out of Kennedy-Longfellow and Fletcher Maynard Academy are concerning. Kennedy-Longfellow has closed. Thinking about what would help the children at Fletcher Maynard could be really impactful.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School is really good. It's nice to see they were named a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School.

"Cambridge Public Schools is proud to announce that the U.S. Department of Education has recognized the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School (NBRS), receiving acclaim for the school's progress in closing student achievement gaps. Only nine schools in the state were recognized as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School."

Amigos School is also very good (I didn't realize they teach both elementary and middle school students).

The test score progress at Haggerty is great, but the test score levels are a little disappointing. I wonder if their curriculum is too easy in grades 3 and below.

In terms of test score levels, King Open doesn't look great, but when we look at test score progress they're doing an okay job helping students keep up with the state average growth.

Of the five middle schools, Cambridge Street Upper School looks to have the most room for improvement.

Vassal Lane Upper School is making a lot of progress on math, it might be informative to learn from their approach to teaching math.