Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Dedham, Massachusetts - 7 schools
An equity score of 42/100 ranks Dedham #141 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $26,081 per pupil, Dedham ranks #74 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,556
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$26,081
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Dedham operates 7 public schools serving 2,556 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 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 Norfolk County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $26,081 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 69.8% local, 22.7% state, and 7.5% 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 42/100, ranked #141 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (17 AP courses district-wide), a 202.2:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 20.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 63.3% White, 18.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Avery, with a diversity index of 63.4/100.
Its largest campus is Dedham High, enrolling 719 students (27% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Riverdale, at 206 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Dedham High accounts for 26.9% of all Dedham student enrollment
That concentration means Dedham-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.
Dedham school enrollment varies 3.5× across entities
Dedham school enrollment ranges from 206 students (lowest) to 719 students (highest), a spread of 513 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Dedham student-counselor ratio is 202:1 — 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.
Dedham chronic absenteeism rate is 20.9% — 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 Dedham is typically wider than the Dedham-aggregate figure suggests.