South End’s Carter School Wins $100,000 School on the Move Prize

The William E. Carter School, a Boston Public Schools special education school in the South End, won EdVestors’ $100,000 School on the Move Prize on Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Boston Globe and WHDH reported. The award recognizes a city school for documented improvement in student outcomes. Principal Mark O’Connor accepted the prize at a breakfast at Fenway Park attended by Mayor Michelle Wu, Superintendent Mary Skipper, and teachers and administrators from the three finalist schools.

The Carter School serves about 60 students, ages 3 to 21, with significant cognitive disabilities and complex medical needs, according to the Globe and WHDH. It now occupies a campus on Northampton Street. District officials told the Globe the school has become a model for alternative communication and educational technology, including tools such as eye-gaze systems that were not available when the current work began.

From medical care to classroom expectations

Marinell Rousmaniere, chief executive of EdVestors, the Boston education nonprofit that presents the prize, said the school had shifted from a focus mainly on students’ medical needs to rigorous academics that have improved literacy outcomes, the Globe reported. “With their unique population, the Carter School can really show us if it’s possible for the students they work with, it’s possible for … all students,” she said. “The key takeaway is that every student is capable.”

O’Connor, in remarks at the ceremony, described how difficult that work was before modern devices. “When we took on this work, before iPads existed, before eye-gaze technology was a thing, it was a group of people that came together and wanted to do the best we could for our students,” he said, according to the Globe. After the announcement, he told WHDH, “I think it all comes down to our community, our students, our staff, and the work that they’re doing every day to really focus on every student as an individual and what they need to access their education.”

Kimberly Kulasekaran, the school’s assistant principal, told the Globe the award “feels very well-deserved.” “We’ve been working very hard for a very long time,” she said, as colleagues cheered, cried and hugged when the winner was announced at the end of the ceremony. She told WHDH that she and O’Connor have been colleagues for almost 20 years, “just working tirelessly with so many educators in our community, really showing what our students can do.”

The $100,000 will help the school buy more adaptive seating and other equipment, the Globe reported. WHDH reported that administrators said the money would go toward equipment, programs and better resources. EdVestors describes the School on the Move Prize as an annual award to one Boston Public Schools campus selected for exceptional, data-driven improvement, with officials first reviewing state data and then visiting schools to see how educators are getting results, the Globe reported.

The other finalists, and a dispute over runner-up awards

The Carter School was honored alongside two other finalists: Dante Alighieri Montessori School in East Boston and New Mission High School in Hyde Park. All three were recognized for closing achievement gaps and improving student outcomes, the Globe reported. Hundreds of teachers from the finalist schools filled the room, and the winner was kept secret until the end of the event.

Accounts differ on the size of the runner-up awards. The Globe reported that the runners-up received $20,000 each, with half paid by EdVestors and half financed by an anonymous donor. WHDH reported that each of the other two schools received $10,000. The Boston Report was not able to reconcile those two figures from official prize materials as of Thursday, Nov. 12; both figures are reported here as the outlets published them.

Alighieri was a finalist for the top prize in 2025, the Globe reported, and officials there said the school has erased an achievement gap and is expanding multi-age and multi-grade classrooms. Widade Zaim, an Alighieri parent and former staff member, said, “I have watched my own son grow not only academically but also in confidence, independence, and ability to think for himself,” according to the Globe.

New Mission, the only high school finalist this year, has seen large enrollment gains since the pandemic while many other public schools have lost students, officials said. “The school grew really quickly after the pandemic, even as we added different programs,” co-head Karen Loughran said in a video played at the event, adding that the school also increased its multilingual student population and Advanced Placement opportunities, the Globe reported. New Mission was nominated for the award multiple times and won in 2012.

What city leaders said, and what the prize is meant to do

Wu, who last month pledged to make Boston’s schools the best in the nation, told the crowded hall, “It’s really hard to do this work right now,” the Globe reported. “There are so many forces pulling people apart … and your schools are pointing to the example of how to bring people together.” Later she added, “I’m so thrilled that we’re setting the standard once again nationally. I’m going to fight to make sure … there’s real support from all levels for public education.”

Skipper, speaking on a panel, said, “When I look at these three communities … what I see is best practice that we want [in] all leaders,” according to the Globe. Rousmaniere said the prize is meant to identify practices other BPS schools can follow. WHDH described the 2026 award as the 21st annual prize presented by the Boston-based nonprofit.

The celebration comes as Massachusetts districts, including Boston, continue to wrestle with enrollment changes, aging buildings and debates over which schools should stay open. Those larger fights were not the subject of Tuesday’s ceremony. The Carter School prize is a narrower story: a small South End campus, 60 students with intensive needs, and an outside review that concluded the school’s academic work is getting results. EdVestors’ prize page describes the award as a way to highlight improvement that other schools can study. For families and staff at the Northampton Street campus, the more immediate question is how the $100,000 will be turned into seating, devices and programs the school says its students still need.

Sources

• Boston Globe: South End special education school receives $100,000 award for improving student outcomes
• WHDH: The Carter School named Boston Public Schools’ “School on the Move” winner
• EdVestors: School on the Move Prize
• EdVestors: William E. Carter School, a 2026 School on the Move semifinalist