PLYMOUTH, MA (September 29, 2025)—Rising Tide is pleased to announce that it has been named a School of Recognition by the Massachusetts’ Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). As a School of Recognition, Rising Tide has demonstrated high achievement, strong student growth, and consistent success in meeting state accountability targets.

Today, DESE released a summary of the 2025 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing results administered in public schools across the state.

“It is validating for our school, our students, and our faculty to receive this external recognition,” said Michael O’Keefe, Rising Tide’s Head of School. “Here at Rising Tide, we are focused on cultivating curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in an environment that promotes a sense of belonging in each student. We are proud to see such strong outcomes for our students in comparison with their peers across the state because we focus on educating the whole child and building lifelong skills as opposed to focusing on test preparation.”

Rising Tide’s students have outpaced their peers across the state, putting Rising Tide in the 91 percentile, an indication of the school’s overall performance relative to other public schools that serve similar grades. Rising Tide students met or exceeded expectations at a higher rate than the state average in every grade level and in every subject area tested. In five out of the 14 grades/subjects, Rising Tide students were over 20% higher than the state average. 

In particular, our high school students did exceptionally well. In English, 72 percent of our high school students met or exceeded expectations, which is 21 percent higher than the state average, and in math, 69 percent met or exceeded expectations, a 24 percent higher rate than the state average.