Special Olympics North America has announced that 19 Massachusetts schools with Special Olympics Unified Champion School® programming are receiving national banner recognition for the 2023-2024 school year for their efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities for students with and without intellectual disabilities. The following schools have been selected:  

Chicopee Comprehensive High School*

Chicopee High School*

Curley K-8 School

D.L. Beckwith Middle School

Dr Kevin M Hurley Middle School

Fitchburg High School*

Hopkinton High School*

Mark G Hoyle Elementary School

Mattahunt Elementary

Methuen High School*

Newton South High School*

Plymouth North High School

Quabbin Regional Middle-High School

Rollins Early Childhood Center

Varnum Brook Elementary School

Walpole Middle School

West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High School

Westborough High School*

Weymouth High School*

*Schools that are a 4-year renewal school

Eleven of the 19 schools are new to reaching National Banner Status, while 8 are renewal schools. These 19 schools are receiving this distinguished status as a result of meeting 10 national standards of excellence in the areas of inclusion, advocacy, and respect. Special Olympics Massachusetts now has an impressive list of 64 schools that have reached this top-level achievement. These standards were developed by a national panel of leaders from Special Olympics and the education community.

The primary activities within these standards include Special Olympics Unified Sports® where students with and without disabilities train and compete as teammates, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. National banner schools should also demonstrate they are self-sustainable or have a plan in place to sustain these activities into the future.  

The Unified Champion Schools® model is a strategy for schools Pre-K through university that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, utilizing three interconnected components: Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. As many as 16 million young people are taking part in inclusive experiences through Special Olympics.

More than 369 schools are currently participating in Unified Champion Schools® programming in Massachusetts as part of 10,000 schools across the country including 49 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, engaged in the program. The Unified Champion Schools® strategy aims to expand to 20,000 schools by 2030.

The Unified Champion Schools® model is supported by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. This model has been proven, through research, to be an effective and replicable means to providing students with and without disabilities the opportunity to form positive social relationships and promote a socially inclusive school climate.

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