Mark Your Calendar
- Tuesday, October 7 | School Committee Meeting (Beginning at 6PM)
- Monday, October 13 | Indigenous Peoples’ Day (No School & CPS Offices Closed)
- Tuesday, October 21 | School Committee Meeting (Beginning at 6PM)
- Tuesday, November 4 | Staff Professional Learning Day/Election Day (No School)
- Tuesday, November 11 | Veterans Day (No School & CPS Offices Closed)
Good evening CPS Community,
Last week, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the MCAS and accountability results for the 2024-2025 school year. As a district, CPS students scored higher than the state average in every subject and grade. A full overview of the data highlights, areas of improvement, and our continued focus on closing achievement gaps can be found in the MCAS press release here. We will present the data and outline next steps in the coming weeks at School Committee meetings.
The School Committee is scheduled to vote tonight, October 6 to select a new Superintendent of Schools. The public meeting begins at 5PM and can be watched live on Comcast channel 26 or online here (scroll to Channel 26 livestream).
As a reminder, there will be no school next Monday, October 13 in observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Sincerely,
The CPS Team
In this Issue:
- What We’re Celebrating
- School Committee Vote for Superintendent Scheduled Tonight; Watch Live at 5PM
- Tour the new Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall School and Community Complex
- 2024-2025 MCAS and Accountability Data
- Transportation Update
- Preschool Application for 2026-2027 Now Available!
- Upcoming Covid-19 and Flu Vaccine Clinics
- Apply for Equity Grants to Improve CPS Today
- Save-the-Date: First Community Social of the Year
- FamilyBook: Connect with Your School Community
- Strategic Spotlight: Role of Screener Assessments in Improving Student Outcome
- Upcoming Events
- District & Community Resources
- The Bright Spot
What We’re Celebrating This Month
Wednesday, October 2 was School Custodian Appreciation Day! Our custodians work hard to maintain our buildings and ensure a clean, safe, and welcoming environment for everyone in our school community. They arrive early and stay late, always with a smile and a readiness to help. Join us in acknowledging their hard work!
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity to honor the contributions that Indigenous peoples have made throughout history. In addition, it is an opportunity to acknowledge the violence, displacement, assimilation, and discrimination that Indigenous communities have faced and continue to face today. People have been advocating for celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day for decades (e.g. it was first introduced during a United Nations conference in 1977), to replace Columbus Day. In 2024, President Joe Biden became the first president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day by issuing a proclamation.
National School Lunch Week (October 13-17) celebrates the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which serves nearly 30 million children nationwide every school day. NSLP helps reduce childhood hunger, improves student academic performance, and supports local agriculture systems!
To celebrate, we want our students’ ideas for new international recipes we could use in the future to celebrate all the cultures found amongst our school community. Please fill out this form or email us at [email protected] to submit your student’s recipe idea!
Every October, National Principals Month shines a spotlight on the transformative power of our school principals. These leaders, with their intentional vision and unwavering dedication to students, are molding futures, shaping communities, and paving pathways to success for every student. Please join us in celebrating our principals this month!
Learning Disabilities Awareness Month was designated in the United States in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. Schools and other educational organizations use this month to inform the public about learning disabilities. You can celebrate by recognizing the strengths and successes of someone with a learning disability, reading a book written by or about a person with a learning disability, or learning a strategy to better support a student with a learning disability.
Need to Know News
School Committee Vote for Superintendent Scheduled Tonight; Watch Live at 5PM
The School Committee is scheduled to vote tonight, October 6 to select a new Superintendent of Schools. The public meeting begins at 5PM, in the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway.
WATCH THE MEETING LIVE
TV Comcast Channel 26 | Online (scroll to Channel 26)
Finalists for the next CPS Superintendent of Schools are:
- Lourenço Garcia, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent, Revere, MA
- David Murphy, Interim Superintendent, Cambridge, MA
- Magaly Sanchez, Chief Family Advancement Officer, Boston, MA
Learn about finalists, the search process, and view recordings of previous public interviews here.
Tour the New Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall School and Community Complex
Join us for the Grand Opening Celebration of the Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall School and Community Complex on Saturday, October 18, 2025. The event will include a ribbon cutting, refreshments, speakers, and tours of state-of-the-art facility for all interested community members.
- When: Saturday, October 18 | 10AM - 1PM (doors open at 9:30AM)
- Where: 181 Vassal Lane
Learn more and view photos of the schools in this press release.
2024-2025 MCAS and Accountability Data
Last week, DESE released MCAS and Accountability results for the 2024-2025 school year. Across all grades and subjects, CPS outperformed the state, including in the inaugural administration of the Grade 8 Civics MCAS.
During DESE’s public announcement event last week, CPS was one of only 41 districts recognized for its steady progress in grades 3-8 Math MCAS scores; Cambridge was also the largest of the 63 districts in total recognized by the state for making progress.
Other highlights from the CPS data include:
- On average, all grades had moderate or high growth in ELA and Math.
- CPS saw significant one-year gains in the percentage of students meeting/exceeding expectations in several areas: grade 6 math and grade 7 ELA (11 percentage point increases each), as well as STE: grade 5 (8 percentage points) and grade 10 (7 percentage points).
- In the state’s accountability framework, the district as a whole is categorized as “making substantial progress toward targets,” especially in reducing chronic absenteeism in grades 1-8, progress toward attaining English proficiency for high school students, and extended engagement rate.
Read more about our results and data in the letter from Interim Superintendent Murphy here.
Grades 3-8 MCAS: % of Students Meeting/Exceeding Expectations
Preschool Application for 2026-2027 Now Available!
Applications for the Cambridge Preschool Program (CPP) for the 2026-2027 school year are open now through Friday, November 14.
CPP provides access to free preschool through Cambridge Public Schools, the Cambridge Department of Human Services and Programs, and select community-based preschool and family child-care providers. Families can choose from programs that operate full-day, full-year (including summer) for an additional cost. Families apply through a single, centralized online application during the fall application timeframe.
- A child is eligible if they live in Cambridge and are:
- 4 years old by August 31, 2026 for 4-year-old programs; or
- 3 years old by August 31, 2026 for 3-year-old programs (please note there will be limited seats for 3-year-olds, and there may be additional eligibility requirements)
The program is managed by the City’s Office of Early Childhood. Learn more about the Cambridge Preschool Program here.
Upcoming COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Clinics
The Cambridge Public Health Department is offering COVID-19 and flu vaccines to adults and children who live in Cambridge.
Everyone 6 months and older is eligible to receive both COVID-19 and flu vaccines in Massachusetts.
- Tuesday, October 21 | 10AM - 2PM
- Cambridge Senior Center (806 Massachusetts Ave.)
- *Thursday, October 23 | 4:30 - 7PM
- King Open School (850 Cambridge St.)
- *Please note that this is a Vaxabilities Clinic for people with special needs.
- Friday, October 24 | 1 - 4PM
- Cambridge Community Center (5 Callender St.)
- Wednesday, October 29 | 3:30 - 6:30PM
- Reservoir Church (170 Rindge Ave.)
- *Please note that this is a Vaxabilities Clinic for people with special needs.
- Thursday, October 30 | 4 - 6:30PM
- Pisani Center (131 Washington St.)
Appointments are encouraged. Bring your insurance card if you have one.
Apply for Equity Grants to Improve CPS Today
Calling students, staff, and caregivers! Do you have an idea for a project to make CPS more equitable and inclusive? The Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging offers two funding options:
- OEIB Mini-Grants (up to $1000)
- Smaller purchases or events – try out your idea!
- OEIB Mini-Grant Applications | Deadline: Rolling
- Past examples: Black Student Union Cookout, games for Best Buddies, CSUS GSA Queer Micro Library, CRLS Muslim Students Association Eid Party
- Equity Collaborative ($500-$5000)
Save-the-Date: First Community Social of the Year
You’re invited to join the Family and Community Engagement Team and our community partners for our first Community Social of the new school year. The theme for this event is Rhythms of Community: Dance, Drum, and Togetherness.
The event will feature West African dance and drumming for all ages and abilities. Come and join the festivities, indulge in delicious food, participate in our raffle, and take home some swag! Check out the Community Social flyer here.
- When: Saturday, October 25 | 10:30AM - 1PM
- Where: Morse School (40 Granite Street)
- Registration is helpful but not required. Those registered will be entered for a chance to win a prize.
Questions? Contact Mia Ferej or call 617.349.9786
FamilyBook: Connect with Your School Community
Building connections among school communities is an essential part of building culture and fostering positive friendships among students and families. With FamilyBook, families can volunteer their contact information to create a secure online family contact list at each school to share information with other families.
Who can see my information?
- You must sign-up for your information to be included otherwise your information will remain private.
- You can customize which information is visible.
- If you add your information, it is only visible to other families in your child’s school, not the whole district.
Sign up for the FamilyBook here!
Strategic Spotlight: Role of Screener Assessments in Improving Student Outcomes
Each year, students Kindergarten - Grade 8 participate in routine screening assessments in English Language Arts, Math, and other subjects depending on their grade level. Screeners provide a snapshot of a student’s progress towards developing specific skills to inform instructional plans, approaches, and groups. Screener results do not impact student academic record and are used solely to enhance the development of student’s future-ready skills. Families will soon be receiving reports from fall academic screening.
By monitoring student progress over time, we are able to enhance our Mutli-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), which is designed to support students in sustained growth over time.
Based on this and other data, students receive support customized to their educational needs such as, focused learning in What I Need (WIN) blocks, Boost Reading platform, i-Ready Personalized Instruction, Excel tutoring, and more!
This year, students in grade 3-9 will participate in the Wayfinder’s Waypoints social-emotional learning (SEL) screener for the first time. The Wayfinder social emotional learning curriculum is designed to evaluate six core skills: Self-Awareness, Adaptability, Empathy, Collaboration, Agency, and Purpose. You can learn more about the Waypoints screener here.
While assessment data from screeners and MCAS tests inform districtwide and individual instructional strategies, CPS also relies on educator input and what families share about their student’s learning to guide decisions to achieve our shared goal of supporting each student in reaching their full academic and personal potential.
In the District
Ethiopian Affinity Caregiver Gathering
October 8 | 5:30 -6:30 PM
Zoom
Discuss the current education process and challenges with the Cambridge Family and Community Engagement Team. Contact Aboma Dirbaba at 857.331.1199 or Toyba Abdie at 857.283.7870
View the flyer here.
Webinar: Executive Functioning for Advanced Learners
Thursday, October 16 | 7:30 - 9PM
Zoom Webinar
Join CPS and Educational Therapist and Learning Consultant, Alexis A. Reid, M.A., for a webinar designed to provide tools and tips for supporting your student’s learning needs, understand executive function skills and your role in enhancing learner agency inside and outside of the classroom.
Tobin Montessori/Darby Vassall Community Complex Grand Opening
Saturday, October 18 | Time: To Be Announced
181 Vassal Lane
Celebrate the opening of the new Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall Upper School Community Complex. The event will include tours for all interested community members. Details coming soon.
Community Social
Saturday, October 25 | 10:30AM - 1PM
Morse School (40 Granite Street)
Join CPS and our community partners for our first Community Social of the year. Enjoy
West African dance, drumming, and unity! Lunch is provided. Registration is helpful for planning but not required.
District Calendar
Visit our digital calendar for upcoming events here.
In the Community
Webinar: From Conflict to Connection: How Families and Schools Can Work Together to Break the Cycle of Bullying
Wednesday, October 8 | 12PM
Join Cartwheel and bullying prevention expert Fabian Ramirez to learn about the hidden impact of bullying and how parents and educators can foster empathy, resilience, and healthier school communities.
Register for the webinar here.
STEAM It Up!
Thursday, October 23 | 6 - 8PM
Putnam Avenue Upper School (100 Putnam Avenue)
Explore STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math)
during our STEAM It Up event this fall. This Cambridge-wide event for preschoolers - 8th grade will feature fun STEAM events and free pizza!
Science Club for Girls
Date & Time Varies
Virtual and In-person
Explore Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in this
free after-school program for girls and gender-expansive youth (kindergarten - grade 8)
Apply for the Science Club for Girls here.
District & Community Resources
CPS Recognized by the State for Improved Math MCAS Scores
Top row: Grade 8 Math Teacher at RAUC Jose Oliveira and Secretary of Education Dr. Patrick Tutwiler
Bottom row: Executive Director of Academics Dr. Heather Francis, Interim Superintendent Murphy, School Committee Vice Chair Caroline Hunter, DESE Commissioner Pedro Martinez, School Committee Member David Weinstein
On Monday, September 29, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) hosted an event to shared the 2024-2025 MCAS results and to recognize 63 districts for making substantial progress in student learning. Cambridge Public Schools was one of the the only 41 districts recognized for its steady progress in grades 3-8 Math MCAS scores. Additionally, Cambridge was the largest district of the 63 district totally recognized by the state for making substantial progress.