Cambridge Public Schools uses what is considered one of the most innovative ways to approach the issue of segregation: controlled choice, in which students’ economic status – qualification for free or reduced-priced lunches – plays a role while still allowing parents the right to choose a child’s school.
A recent Boston Globe article has proven that Cambridge public elementary schools still struggle with integration, though. With the current presidential administration promising to provide school choice to every American family, it’s time to rethink the way that Cambridge uses school choice and call for transparency during the process.
Although some of this segregation can be attributed to certain programs being offered only at some schools, such as for Chinese- and Portuguese-language immersion, the level of segregation reflects more than that. Schools such as the Maria L. Baldwin boast high MCAS scores with an 82 percent proficiency or higher on the 2024 third-grade English test; at the soon-to-close Kennedy-Longfellow School, the percentage is 14 percent. A singular school district displaying this high of a discrepancy in achievement is proof of the failures of this system.
Kennedy-Longfellow is 84.2 percent children of color and 63.3 percent low-income, while the Baldwin School is 57.5 percent white and 17.2 percent low-income. This is not an indictment of the Kennedy-Longfellow School, which is a beloved school full of hardworking students and teachers; rather, it’s proof that the supposed system for equity and diversity is not working.
Cambridge Public Schools claims to account for students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, with the supposed balancing percentage being around 10 percent, significantly less than the district average of 40 percent in 2024. As stated at a School Committee meeting in 2013, the 10 percent can be adjusted by the superintendent based on the demographics of kindergarten and prekindergarten eligibility. Yet the elementary schools remain unbalanced.
Furthermore, relying on family choice disadvantages families who don’t have adequate time to devote to research and may struggle with accessing and understanding information regarding their role in deciding. Affluent white families have ample time and resources to take advantage of the registration policy, while others are left behind.
As a student who went through the Cambridge Public School system for 12 years, the district’s segregated schools are not surprising. It’s common knowledge amongst white, affluent families that there are certain elementary schools that are considered better than others, and those elementary schools fill up first.
My family entered the public school system when I was in first grade. I was placed originally in Amigos, but I struggled with Spanish immersion and was transferred to my neighborhood elementary school, Cambridgeport. Only a couple of blocks away was the Fletcher Maynard Academy, arguably the other neighborhood school for my area and a school with 91.6 percent students of color and a 26 percent proficiency or higher rate on the third-grade English MCAS in 2024. I will never blame my parents or others for fighting to get me what they believe is the best education available, but the fact that not all schools are created equal within the same district is a problem greater than a single family can solve.
Regardless of the elementary school, all students who remain in the public school system end up at Cambridge Rindge and Latin for high school, but not every student arrives on an equal playing field. Students with a strong elementary education are set up to succeed and thrive. Students without that background fall behind, widening the achievement gap, which has also been an issue for the district. The failures of this system of school choice are more than just diversity in elementary schools; they’re about equal access and preparation for the next generation.
The recent announcement of the closing of the Kennedy-Longfellow elementary school at the end of this year does not bode well for those of us looking to combat inequality. It seems that CPSD feels more comfortable sweeping issues in elementary schools under the rug rather than facing them head-on.
All families and students should demand accountability from the superintendent’s office and the School Committee to bring the failures of the school choice system fully into the light. The superintendent’s office and the committee must begin an investigation into the issue of school segregation within the district and begin to take the issue of segregation seriously to ensure all students get the best education the district can offer.
Committee meetings take place the first and third Tuesday of every month during the school year and function as the perfect forum for this investigation and discussion. The superintendent’s office can be found at 135 Berkshire St., and the office can be reached by phone at (617) 349-6494 or at schoolcom@cpsd.us.
Sarah Valiante
Sarah Valiante lived in Cambridge and attended Cambridge Public Schools for 12 years before graduating from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2021. She is a senior history student at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is pursuing a master of education degree with a focus on racial and economic equity.
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It’s obvious the school choice model is not working to produce the outcomes that students and families deserve while spending 40 thousand per student per year. The system is broken. Go back to neighborhood schools, saving the system millions in transportation costs per year. The results couldn’t be any worse than they are now
I don’t understand how the closing of Kennedy Longfellow “does not bode well for those of us trying to combat inequality”… wasn’t that school underenrolled and underperforming, and, thus, providing an unequal experience for the students attending? I believe most of its students have been reassigned to Morse and MLK, which given their locations, I would imagine have more students from affluent families… doesn’t that make the outcome more equal?
Desegregation is a means to an end, not an end.
I’d be curious if the author supports minority affinity groups.
The key questions to ask are a few levels deeper. For example, there’s a contrast behind:
* Bad segregatory mechanisms (see e.g. “Five Miles Away, A World Apart”);
* Minorities flocking to a school which serves them especially well (e.g. FMA under Harris); or
* Schools which serve students with different interests and backgrounds (e.g. project-based vs. STEM vs. music vs. immersion vs. Montessori), where it’s not the case that most schools can be divided into “better” v. “worse,” rather than different.
It’s also a mistake to look at things at a district, rather than systemic, level. If CPSD is less internally-segregated but overall segregation goes up (e.g. students leave for private schools or other districts), that’s a bad outcome too.
We do need an in-depth evaluation, but one with a lot more nuance and depth than presented.