NCES CCD 2024-25 20 schools MA

Best-Resourced Schools in Cambridge, MA

Compiled from official source data by .

20 public K-12 schools in Cambridge from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
20
Schools
8,520
Students
46.6/100
Avg Resource Index
9.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Cambridge has more public-school enrollment than 76% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Cambridge sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

15 of Cambridge's 20 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.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 24-point gap between Prospect Hill Academy Charter School and King Open shows the range hidden by Cambridge'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.

City enrollment
Top 24%
School count
Top 15%
Resource Index average
76th percentile
Teacher staffing
99th percentile

Cambridge Rindge and Latin accounts for 24.3% of all Cambridge public-school enrollment

That concentration means Cambridge-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Cambridge school enrollment varies 9.6× across entities

Cambridge school enrollment ranges from 215 students (lowest) to 2,072 students (highest), a spread of 1,857 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

Cambridge student-teacher ratio is 9.6:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

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.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

3 of Cambridge's 20 listed schools are charters

15% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Prospect Hill Academy Charter School 56
2. Putnam Avenue Upper School 54
3. Vassal Lane Upper School 52
4. Martin Luther King Jr. 51
5. Morse 51
6. Cambridge Street Upper School 51
7. Cambridgeport 51
8. Haggerty 50
9. Maria L. Baldwin 49
10. Community Charter School of Cambridge 49
11. Amigos School 48
12. Rindge Avenue Upper School 48
13. John M Tobin 48
14. Cambridge Rindge and Latin 46
15. Graham and Parks 46
16. Peabody 43
17. Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School 36
18. Kennedy-Longfellow 36
19. Fletcher/Maynard Academy 35
20. King Open 32

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Cambridge

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.

  1. 1 Putnam Avenue Upper School 78.0/100
  2. 2 King Open 77.2/100
  3. 3 Haggerty 75.8/100
  4. 4 Cambridge Rindge and Latin 75.5/100
  5. 5 John M Tobin 75.0/100

What do families ask about schools in Cambridge?

Which Cambridge school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Prospect Hill Academy Charter School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Cambridge schools in this federal-data comparison at 56/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Cambridge, MA? ▼

Cambridge has 20 public schools with a total enrollment of 8,520 students. 3 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 9.6:1.

Other Cities in Massachusetts

Springfield
71 schools
Worcester
49 schools
Dorchester
29 schools
Lawrence
29 schools
Lowell
29 schools
Lynn
28 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Massachusetts →

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.