Lawrence
1 high school and 10 elementary schools in our rankings · serves Lawrence
Ranks #296 of 328 Massachusetts school districts.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Lawrence is a city in the Merrimack Valley of northeastern Massachusetts, located on the Merrimack River roughly 25 miles northwest of Boston and near the New Hampshire border. The Lawrence Public Schools district serves the city's students through a network of schools anchored by Lawrence High School. Lawrence is known for its industrial heritage as a textile manufacturing center, and it was the site of the 1912 "Bread and Roses" strike, a landmark labor action in American history. The city has a diverse, densely populated character with a strong mix of residential neighborhoods and historic mill architecture along the river.
How it compares
- Best of its categories: Attendance, in the bottom 33% of districts. Students attend 92.1% of school days, vs 93.7% for the average MA district.
- Area to watch: SAT scores rank in the bottom 3% of districts.
- Trend: Chronic absence has fallen from 43.5% in 2022 to 23.3% in 2025.
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 Lawrence
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 (Lawrence High School). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
46.8% female · 53.1% 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 1,150 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
13.6 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 7.3% missed 20% or more of school days
About Lawrence
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 Lawrence with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district