29 public K-12 schools in Dorchester 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, Dorchester has more public-school enrollment than 87% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Dorchester's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.
26 of Dorchester's 29 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.
Dorchester's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 21st percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 93rd percentile. The 72-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.
Dorchester school enrollment ranges from 28 students (lowest) to 1,693 students (highest), a spread of 1,665 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. 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
Each school district has independent budgeting, hiring, and service delivery authority. The fragmentation reflects historical patterns of inter-municipal boundary lines that pre-date modern city growth, students in different parts of the same city can attend different districts with different per-pupil spending, calendars, and graduation requirements. Per-region variation is largest in fragmented systems because each school district sets its own budget, contracts, and priorities without higher-level coordination above the regulatory floor.
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.
14% 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. | Boston Collegiate Charter School | 49 |
| 2. | Murphy K-8 School | 48 |
| 3. | Lee K-8 School | 44 |
| 4. | Neighborhood House Charter School | 43 |
| 5. | Codman Academy Charter Public School | 39 |
| 6. | Conservatory Lab Charter School | 38 |
| 7. | Henderson K-12 Inclusion School Lower | 38 |
| 8. | Kenny Elementary School | 37 |
| 9. | Boston International High School & Newcomers Academy | 36 |
| 10. | Frederick Pilot Middle School | 36 |
| 11. | Lee Academy | 36 |
| 12. | Community Academy of Science and Health | 35 |
| 13. | Everett Elementary School | 35 |
| 14. | Shaw Elementary School | 33 |
| 15. | Boston Latin Academy | 32 |
| 16. | Dever Elementary School | 32 |
| 17. | Holmes Elementary School | 32 |
| 18. | Mather Elementary School | 31 |
| 19. | King Elementary School | 31 |
| 20. | Greenwood Sarah K-8 School | 31 |
| 21. | Winthrop Elementary School | 31 |
| 22. | Clap Elementary School | 30 |
| 23. | Trotter Elementary School | 29 |
| 24. | Techboston Academy | 28 |
| 25. | Burke High School | 28 |
| 26. | Russell Elementary School | 28 |
| 27. | Up Academy Holland | 25 |
| 28. | Henderson K-12 Inclusion School Upper | 25 |
| 29. | Carter School | 16 |
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.
Boston Collegiate Charter School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Dorchester schools in this federal-data comparison at 49/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Dorchester has 29 public schools with a total enrollment of 13,675 students. 4 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 11.3:1.
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.
