Information on Education and Schools in Massachusetts

Each state varies at least somewhat in education related policy.   Trending educational topics such as charter schools, school vouchers, standardized testing, state standards, and school finance all take on the shape of a states political foundation.   This variation ensures that a student in Massachusetts is most assuredly receiving a slightly different education than a similar student in another state.   This makes providing accurate comparisons among states extremely difficult.   It is possible to compare data from programs, assessments, and studies that look at each state independently. This profile breaks down education and schools in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Education Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education: Mitchell D. Chester District/School Information Length of School Year: A minimum of 180 school days is required by Massachusetts state law. Number of Public School Districts: There are 242 public school districts in Massachusetts. Number of Public Schools: There are 1859 public schools in Massachusetts. **** Number of Students Served in Public Schools: There are 953,369 public school students in Massachusetts. **** Number of Teachers in Public Schools: There are 69,342 public school teachers in Massachusetts.**** Number of Charter Schools: There are 79 charter schools in Massachusetts. Per Pupil Spending: Massachusetts spends $14,262 per pupil in public education. **** Average Class Size: The average class size In Massachusetts is 13.7 students per 1 teacher. **** % of Title I Schools: 51.3% of schools in Massachusetts are Title I Schools.**** % With Individualized Education Programs (IEP): 17.4% of students in Massachusetts are on IEPs. **** % in Limited-English Proficiency Programs: 6.8% of students in Massachusetts are in limited-English Proficient Programs.**** % of Student Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunches: 35.0% of students in Massachusetts schools are eligible for free/reduced lunches.**** Ethnic/Racial Student Breakdown**** White: 67.0% Black: 8.2% Hispanic: 16.0% Asian: 5.7% Pacific Islander: 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.2% School Assessment Data Graduation Rate: 82.6% of all students entering high school in Massachusetts graduate. ** Average ACT/SAT score: Average ACT Composite Score: 24.4*** Average Combined SAT Score: 1552***** 8th grade NAEP assessment scores:**** Math: 297 is the scaled score for 8th grade students in Massachusetts. The U.S. average was 281. Reading: 274 is the scaled score for 8th grade students in Massachusetts. The U.S. average was 264. % of Students Who Attend College after High School: 73.2% of students in Massachusetts go on to attend some level of college. *** Private Schools Number of Private Schools: There are 852 private schools in Massachusetts.* Number of Students Served in Private Schools: There are 144,445 private school students in Massachusetts.* Homeschooling Number of Students Served Through Homeschooling: There were an estimated 29,219 students that were homeschooled in Massachusetts in 2016.# Teacher Pay The average teacher pay for the state of Massachusetts was $73,129 in 2013.## Each individual district in the state of Massachusetts negotiates teacher salaries and establishes their own teacher salary schedule. The following is an example of a teacher salary schedule in Massachusetts provided by the Boston Public School District. *Data courtesy of Education Bug . **Data courtesy of ED.gov ***Data courtesy of ACT ****Data courtesy of the National Center for Education Statistics ******Data courtesy of The Commonwealth Foundation #Data courtesy of A2ZHomeschooling.com ##Average salary courtesy of National Center of Education Statistics ###Disclaimer:   The information provided on this page changes frequently.   It is pulled from a several education resources in an attempt to pool critical education related data to one site. It will be updated regularly as new information and data becomes available.