The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Math. The lowest is 58% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Haggerty
Haggerty is a regular public elementary school in Cambridge, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is one of the district’s neighborhood elementary schools, and its enrollment is small. The student body is diverse: the largest group of students are white, followed by Asian and Black students, with smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, as well as those receiving special education services or English language support, were not available. A family considering this school may want to ask the school directly about these supports and how they are distributed.
On the Massachusetts Next-Generation MCAS assessments, the majority of Haggerty’s students met or exceeded expectations in math, English language arts, and science. Overall proficiency, when averaged across the tested subjects, sits above the midpoint among districts in Middlesex County. In math, performance has shown a gradual improvement in recent years, with the most recent testing year reflecting the highest level of proficiency the school has recorded. In English language arts, results have been more variable, with rates that have risen and fallen from year to year, though the most recent year is comparable to several recent ones. The school’s participation rate on the tests was very high, which gives confidence that the results reflect the full student population.
Haggerty is a pre-kindergarten through grade five school, so there is no graduation rate, and the data does not include measures of chronic absenteeism or discipline. The school is not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not reported.
Cambridge is a dense, urban city that sits directly across the Charles River from Boston. Major universities, including Harvard and MIT, are woven into the fabric of the city, and the biotech and technology sectors are large employers. The city has distinct commercial squares with active street life, and the built environment is compact and walkable. Housing costs are among the highest in the region, reflecting the city’s desirability and limited land area. The school sits in a residential neighborhood, and the city’s public transit system connects families to other parts of Cambridge and Boston.
The Cambridge Public Schools district has been undertaking several significant changes in recent years. A universal preschool program for four-year-olds launched in fall 2024, offering free pre-K to all families regardless of income, which is directly relevant to Haggerty’s pre-kindergarten families. The district also launched a major inclusion initiative in 2022, restructuring how students with disabilities are served by moving them from substantially separate classrooms into general education settings with additional support. That initiative involved significant staff retraining and hiring. The district also approved a new comprehensive sex education curriculum for grades seven through twelve, and the school committee approved moving eighth grade from the district’s upper schools to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School starting in the 2025-2026 school year, a change that affects middle school structure but not the elementary grades directly. The district’s budget has increased in recent years, funding expanded preschool, social-emotional learning, and the inclusion initiative, while the residential property tax rate remained stable.
For a family, Haggerty offers a small elementary setting in a city with a strong academic and professional community. The school’s test results are solid relative to peers across the county, and the upward trend in math is a positive sign. The missing data on economic disadvantage and special education means that a family should seek out that information directly to understand the full picture of student support. The broader Cambridge context provides a rich urban environment with extensive educational and cultural resources, but also a high cost of housing. Families who value a diverse, walkable city and are comfortable with the district’s ongoing structural changes may find Haggerty a good fit.
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