Boston Collegiate Charter School, Dorchester MA

Original Research by School Decision on Boston Collegiate Charter School

Boston Collegiate Charter School serves students in grades five through twelve in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. As a charter school, it operates independently of the traditional Boston Public Schools system, drawing families from across the city who choose it through the charter school admission process. The school sits on Mayhew Street in Dorchester, a neighborhood that is Boston’s largest and most diverse, a dense urban fabric of triple-deckers, commercial squares, and transit lines. Dorchester is not a single downtown but a constellation of distinct commercial districts—Fields Corner, Uphams Corner, Codman Square, Ashmont—each with its own immigrant-owned businesses, libraries, and civic life. The MBTA Red Line runs through the heart of the neighborhood, and the area’s street life is concentrated around these transit nodes. Housing values in Dorchester’s zip code area place it roughly in line with the statewide median, though the local market has seen modest softening in recent months.

Academically, Boston Collegiate is a performer that stands out among its peers. On Massachusetts’ NextGen MCAS assessments, the school’s overall proficiency rate across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Suffolk County. In math and English language arts for grades three through eight, the school’s proficiency rates were solid, and in science it performed similarly. The one subject where proficiency was lower was eighth-grade social studies, a result a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand what support is offered in that area. Looking back over the past several years, the school’s proficiency rates in both math and ELA have shown a clear upward trajectory since the pandemic-era dips, recovering and then exceeding pre-2020 levels. That pattern suggests steady academic momentum.

The school’s student body reflects the diversity of the surrounding community. Enrollment is roughly split across a mix of white, Black, Hispanic, and Asian students, with a small share identifying as two or more races. Because this is a charter school that serves a citywide applicant pool, the demographic profile may differ from the immediate Dorchester neighborhood. The school did not report data on students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities, or English learners, so the share of students with these designations is not known. A parent interested in the school’s support services should ask the school directly for that information.

What is also absent from the available data is the school’s four-year graduation rate, its chronic absenteeism rate, and any information on discipline or staffing. Because the school does serve high school grades, a graduation rate would typically be reported; its absence here means a parent should verify that figure with the school or the state. Similarly, no program offerings—such as Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, or career pathways—were included in the data used for this profile. The school’s website is the best next step for a family looking for that detail.

Boston Collegiate Charter School sits within a single-school district by the same name, and there were no recent district-level changes or initiatives flagged in the available research. The school itself appears to be a stable institution in a neighborhood that continues to see residential reinvestment and population growth, particularly around transit corridors. For a family considering it, the school offers a strong academic record relative to other options in Suffolk County, set in one of Boston’s most vibrant and richly layered communities.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

90-94%Cohort of 69 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

392 schools plotted. 8 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grades 3-856%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

English language arts

Grades 3-851%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Science

Grades 3-854%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

This schoolBoston Collegiate Charter (District), same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income66%46 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income49%Higher-income71%23 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income52%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income60%24 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income32%Higher-income63%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income77%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income53%Higher-income70%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income62%46 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income62%24 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income37%Higher-income69%32 pp gap