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Cambridge school leaders tout districtwide MCAS gains and press for action on persistent gaps
Summary
Superintendent and academic leaders told the School Committee the district has recovered from pandemic-era declines and outpaces state averages in some subjects, but acknowledged persistent disaggregated gaps for historically underserved groups and laid out curriculum and MTSS strategies to close them.
The Cambridge School Committee heard a detailed presentation on 2025 MCAS results and district strategies to close opportunity gaps at its Oct. 21 meeting.
Superintendent Murphy said the district has made meaningful gains: "46% is great. It is significant improvement," he said, referencing participation in CRLS tech exploratory courses and broader achievement trends. Presenters noted Cambridge is outperforming the state overall in math and ELA while stressing that the district measures success by how it serves historically underserved students.
Miss Amagon highlighted individual school gains, saying Tobin Montessori was "up 5 percentage points from 2019" in math and Morris also showed steady progress. Dr. Heather Francis described curriculum and intervention work that the district credits for growth: "We've adopted high-quality curriculum materials in both ELA and math," she said, and pointed to investments in MTSS, Excel tutoring and extended learning time.
Committee members pressed for greater disaggregation and school-level context. "We have to understand a little more about the root causes at particular schools," Vice Chair Hunter said, urging staff to provide counts of students below grade level and the specific interventions they receive. Member Rachel emphasized racial disparities in outcomes and asked for clearer data on Black students' results and participation in interventions.
Administration said the district will provide additional school-by-school data and continue monthly monitoring: Superintendent Murphy said the district aims to align staffing and budget resources to the greatest needs and acknowledged that winning community trust requires evidence that strategies benefit students across all school communities.
The committee closed the presentation by requesting follow-up materials on third-grade reading readiness, counts of students receiving interventions, and a breakdown of how staffing allocations respond to school-level needs.
