CPS Announces New School Improvement Plan Goals, Timeline

Cambridge Public Schools leadership presented their new template and timeline for the 2026 School Improvement Plans at Tuesday’s school committee meeting, emphasizing the importance of family feedback and collaboration in the funding allocation process.

Each of Cambridge’s elementary, upper, and high schools designs its own SIP to meet the specific needs of each campus in line with the goals established by the district. The district provides funding to each school based on their SIPs, and revises the goals for schools on a two-year cycle.

The district created five areas that schools need to address in their 2026 SIPs, including ELA/literacy, math, school climate, family engagement, and building specific needs. At the Tuesday meeting, interim superintendent David G. Murphy specifically emphasized CPS’ commitment to improving family engagement.

“You’ve heard me say before that it’s not just about building strong relationships with families,” he said.“Those relationships are, to a large extent, a means to an end to try to improve the overall conditions in which the student is experiencing school.”

Heather Francis, CPS’ executive director of academics, said schools can bolster family engagement by holding curriculum nights for caregiver feedback or hosting webinar series for students to learn practical skills outside of school.

Michelle Madera, the assistant superintendent for CPS elementary schools, emphasized that district leadership expects schools to craft goals across all five areas “to be strategic, to be measurable, to have action steps that are relevant.”

“In order to meet every one of those categories for a goal, a lot of thinking, discussion, planning has to go into place,” she added.

In order to keep schools on track to meet their goals, Madera said school leadership must report their progress to families in June, March, and November. But CPS parent Lilly Havstad expressed concern that the upcoming SIP cycle does not afford parents and caregivers with enough opportunities for feedback.

“There’s no meaningful opportunity for the school councils in this timeline, as I’m reading it, to actually consult on and help inform the creation of the SIP and the budget that’s attached to it,” she said.

Murphy said that the district is prioritizing “transparency” and “clear communication” throughout the SIP process, and will work to include parents and caregivers throughout the development and implementation.

“There is a need to make sure that we are having the type of robust consultation process that is contemplated by the law. And for those who believe in inclusive decision making, I think it is essentially a best practice,” he said.

CPS parent Missy Paige also raised concerns, saying the district must do more to ensure all the SIP funding is used during the meeting’s public comment.

“The underspending is due to a lack of oversight by the school committee and ineptitude in the SIP approval and monitoring process at the district level,” she said.

Murphy addressed the concerns of underspending, saying that “the goal is to expend as much of the funding as possible without overshooting the runway.”

“When there’s marginal amounts of funding left over, that is when there’s an opportunity to potentially put those funds toward one time expenses — like infrastructure, technology, things of that nature,” he added.

Correction: May 21, 2025

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Cambridge Public Schools has allocated nearly all of its School Improvement Plan funding for fiscal year 25 and that only 0.01 percent of SIP funding was currently unencumbered. In fact, the district is on track to have 0.01 percent of all its fiscal year 2025 funds unencumbered by the end of the year.

—Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.