Community Charter School of Cambridge (CCSC) was nominated as a 2025 National Blue Ribbon School by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The nomination, which is designated on a yearly basis, will also be the third DESE nomination for the Cambridge school, which was recognized for “dramatic academic progress” in 2014 and named a School of Recognition in 2024.
The DESE nominated six Massachusetts schools last year, of which CCSC was both the only public charter school and the only school serving high school grades. (CCSC is an independent public charter school and represents its own school district.)
To be nominated for a Blue Ribbon designation, a school must meet certain criteria as an “Exemplary High Performing” or “Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing” school. Those criteria include student performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) within the top 15% in the state, or within the top 40% of the state for historically underserved student groups, according to the 2025 National Blue Ribbon Schools application. Also mentioned as a metric in the application is a high school graduation rate within the top 15% of the state.
Up to 420 schools are nominated by state education officials across the country annually, and winners are then selected by the Department of Education. Since the program began in 1982, it has recognized more than 9,000 high-achieving schools across the country. It was unclear how many have been from Massachusetts.
CCSC’s nomination was based on “overall excellence” in MCAS data across the school, according to Jacqueline Reis, communications director at DESE.
The department also considers what’s called an accountability percentile, which includes academic growth, rates of high school completion, English learners’ progress toward English proficiency, chronic absenteeism, and completion of advanced coursework, Reis told Cambridge Day.
“We are so proud to be recognized for the commitment and dedication of our students, families, staff, volunteers, and community partners, which results in our students growing into empowered, confident adults who succeed in college, career, and beyond,” Becki Norris, a founding faculty member and CCSC’s head of school, wrote in an October press release about the nomination.
CCSC’s 2025 nomination will also be its last, however, as the U.S. Department of Education voted last August to end the Blue Ribbon program.
The decision to end the program, which was rolled out in 1982, is among a slew of cuts to federal education programs and spending last year, including the dismantling of the Department of Education altogether (already, the website for the Blue Ribbon Award has been taken down). In doing away with the Blue Ribbon Award program, the federal government hoped to give states the final say in education. States are “best positioned to recognize excellence in local schools based on educational achievements that align with their communities’ priorities for academic accomplishment and improvement,” a spokesperson for the Department of Education wrote in an August 29 letter announcing the cancellation.
“We were informed by the U.S. Department of Education that the official announcement was forthcoming, but before this could occur, the program was cancelled,” Norris said in an email. The final recognitions were not announced, but many schools still celebrated their nominations. CCSC held a celebration ceremony at the state house on January 20.
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I attended a board meeting at CCSC a number of years ago and I was startled that they were so excited about “MCAS month”. They talked about the daily drilling (not teaching) that would occur to ensure the highest possible scores on the test.
There’s a reason that so few Cambridge families choose this school.