15 public K-12 schools in Portland from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Portland has more public-school enrollment than 69% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Portland lands in the upper national tier on both the average Resource Investment Index and teacher staffing intensity. Those measures come from different inputs: the index combines reported counselors, gifted access, attendance, and staffing, while the staffing percentile compares the city's student-teacher ratio directly. Agreement across both measures is stronger evidence of broad reported capacity than either score alone, though neither is a test-score rating or a guarantee about an individual classroom.
6 of Portland's 15 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
The 31-point gap between Harrison Lyseth Elem School and Portland High School shows the range hidden by Portland's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.
Portland school enrollment ranges from 263 students (lowest) to 912 students (highest), a spread of 649 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Harrison Lyseth Elem School | 65 |
| 2. | Ocean Avenue | 65 |
| 3. | Presumpscot School | 61 |
| 4. | Amanda C Rowe School | 59 |
| 5. | Gerald E Talbot Community School | 58 |
| 6. | Longfellow School-Portland | 58 |
| 7. | East End Community School | 52 |
| 8. | Lincoln Middle School | 52 |
| 9. | King Middle School | 49 |
| 10. | Lyman Moore Middle School | 47 |
| 11. | Howard C Reiche Community Sch | 46 |
| 12. | Casco Bay High School | 42 |
| 13. | Baxter Academy for Tech & Sciences | 38 |
| 14. | Deering High School | 35 |
| 15. | Portland High School | 34 |
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Harrison Lyseth Elem School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Portland schools in this federal-data comparison at 65/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Portland has 15 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,888 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 11.4:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Maine →
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
