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Ashland, Massachusetts - 5 schools
An equity score of 23/100 ranks Ashland #311 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,255 per pupil, Ashland ranks #361 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,925
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$17,255
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Ashland operates 5 public schools serving 2,925 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 combined schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Middlesex County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,255 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 40 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 56.7% local, 37.7% state, and 5.6% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 23/100, ranked #311 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (24 AP courses district-wide), a 194:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 21.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 50.4% White, 22.7% Asian, 19.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is William Pittaway Elementary, with a diversity index of 68.1/100.
Its largest campus is Ashland High, enrolling 884 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is William Pittaway Elementary, at 86 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Ashland High accounts for 30.2% of all Ashland student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Ashland-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Ashland school enrollment varies 10× across entities
Ashland school enrollment ranges from 86 students (lowest) to 884 students (highest), a spread of 798 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Ashland student-counselor ratio is 194:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Ashland chronic absenteeism rate is 21.0% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Ashland is typically wider than the Ashland-aggregate figure suggests.