Acton-Boxborough
1 high school and 6 elementary schools in our rankings
Students from Acton and Boxborough attend Acton-Boxborough schools, including Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.
Ranks #56 of 328 Massachusetts school districts — top 18%.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Acton-Boxborough Regional School District serves the towns of Acton and Boxborough, located roughly 20 miles northwest of Boston in Middlesex County. Both communities are residential suburbs with a mix of single-family neighborhoods, open space, and town centers, and both report high single-family assessed values and per capita income well above the state average. Acton, incorporated in 1735, is home to the historic Acton Minute Man National Historical Park, which commemorates the Minute Men who marched from Acton to Concord on April 19, 1775. Acton-Boxborough Regional High School serves students from both towns.
How it compares
- Strongest area: SAT scores, in the top 2% of districts. Its high schools average 1334 on the SAT, vs 1113 for the average MA district.
- Top school: Paul P Gates Elementary School, #1 of 895 Massachusetts elementary schools.
- Trend: MCAS results and attendance have held steady over the past three years.
A district's overall rank is the average statewide percentile of its ranked schools, with a 10% discount for single-school districts. Category standings compare the average of each district's ranked schools and count only districts with data. How we rank
Schools in Acton-Boxborough
We rank high schools that report SAT results and elementary schools with grade 3 MCAS results, so some of the district's schools (middle schools, for example) aren't listed. Elementary ELA and Math are 2024–2026 averages of grade 3 results.
MCAS results
Share of students meeting or exceeding expectations, compared with the state. Statewide 10th-grade results dropped after 2024, when passing the MCAS stopped being a graduation requirement. There was no test in 2020.
High school results
Averages of the district's ranked high schools (Acton-Boxborough Regional High). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
48.9% female · 51% male · 0.1% nonbinary
Spending & teachers
Spending is total per-pupil expenditure from all sources. Dollar figures aren't adjusted for inflation. "MA median" is the middle district in each year; small districts can spend far more per student, so the median is a fairer yardstick than the average. Salary is the average across 397 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
9.2 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 1.8% missed 20% or more of school days
About the towns
What could you afford here? · All towns A–Z
Town figures are FY2026 averages for single-family homes from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Assessed values usually run below recent sale prices. "MA median" is the median of the state's 351 towns.
Compare Acton-Boxborough with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district