Enrollment
255
Massachusetts · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Wenham, MA
Bessie Buker Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Bessie Buker Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 48/100.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 250567001459
👥 S:T ratio 43
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 49
📋 Attendance 72
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Bessie Buker Elementary earns 48/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 81% of Massachusetts schools.
- 48
- Resource Index · Typical
- 14.2:1
- large classes for Massachusetts
- 255
- students enrolled
Bessie Buker Elementary has class sizes larger than 81% of Massachusetts schools. Computed live against every Massachusetts school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Hamilton-Wenham · Massachusetts
NCES ID 250567001459 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
18.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
14.2:1
vs 12.3:1 Massachusetts avg
+15% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Bessie Buker Elementary compares with Massachusetts and U.S. medians
What stands out at Bessie Buker Elementary
Bessie Buker Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Wenham, Massachusetts, enrolling 255 students.
Class loads run somewhat heavier than typical: 14.2:1 puts it in the larger third of Massachusetts schools by student-teacher ratio.
Enrollment of 255 puts it in the smaller third of Massachusetts schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 1,831 scored Massachusetts schools.
Its student body is predominantly White (88% of enrollment) (diversity index 23/100).
Counselor coverage runs a bit thin, about 255 students per counselor, somewhat past the ASCA-recommended 250:1 benchmark.
11.4% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.
Hamilton-Wenham also operates Hamilton-Wenham Regional High (448 students) and Miles River Middle (391 students) alongside Bessie Buker Elementary.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Bessie Buker Elementary compares
Bessie Buker Elementary on the metrics families compare, against Massachusetts and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Massachusetts | Massachusetts avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 14.2:1 | ▲ 15% | 12.3:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 255 | top 79% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
14.2:1
Leaner classes than 55% of US schools, a middle-of-the-pack class size.
255
Bigger than 26% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
14.2:1
students per teacher
- 15% above state mean
Top 81% in Massachusetts - lower ratio than 19% of state schools
Close to the 15:1 benchmark most often cited for individualized attention.
Engagement
11.4%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 10-15% range, above the pre-pandemic national baseline but within the broader post-pandemic picture.
Funding equity
$22,611
per pupil, district-wide
- above Massachusetts avg of $22,458
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 255 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
White 87.5%
Hispanic or Latino 6.3%
Asian 2.7%
Two or More 2.4%
African American 1.2%
Largest group: White at 87.5% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 22.9/100
Simpson diversity index - at 22.9, Bessie Buker Elementary is less mixed than the Massachusetts school average of 47.3.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Hamilton-Wenham, which includes Bessie Buker Elementary.
$22,611
Per student
+1%
vs Massachusetts
Avg $22,458
+36%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 74.4%
State 20.7%
Federal 4.8%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
How Bessie Buker Elementary Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton-Wenham Regional High | Larger | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
| Miles River Middle | Larger | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
| Winthrop School | Larger | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
| Cutler School | Similar size | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Bessie Buker Elementary's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 448
- Students per teacher
- 10.9:1
- Resource Index
- 56/100
- Enrollment
- 391
- Students per teacher
- 10:1
- Resource Index
- 48/100
- Enrollment
- 329
- Students per teacher
- 12.7:1
- Resource Index
- 57/100
- Enrollment
- 246
- Students per teacher
- 11.7:1
- Resource Index
- 51/100
Similar elementary schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Massachusetts, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~255 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~14.2:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Bessie Buker Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Bessie Buker Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Hamilton-Wenham's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Bessie Buker Elementary
How many students attend Bessie Buker Elementary?
Bessie Buker Elementary has 255 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Wenham, MA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bessie Buker Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Bessie Buker Elementary is 14.2:1, which is 15% higher than the Massachusetts average of 12.3:1 and 10% lower than the national average of 15.7:1.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Bessie Buker Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Bessie Buker Elementary is White at 87.5% of enrollment, in Wenham, MA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Bessie Buker Elementary?
Bessie Buker Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 48/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Bessie Buker Elementary a good school?
Bessie Buker Elementary earns 48/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 81% of Massachusetts schools. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Hamilton-Wenham?
Besides Bessie Buker Elementary, Hamilton-Wenham also operates Hamilton-Wenham Regional High (448 students), Miles River Middle (391 students), and Winthrop School (329 students). See the Hamilton-Wenham district page for the complete list.
Related tools
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. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.