Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester Public Schools by the Numbers
You sit inside one of the largest and most diverse school districts in Massachusetts every weekday. This page shows that district by the numbers and points you to the live state data behind them, kept current by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
District Snapshot
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles.
High needs is a state count, not a score. It includes every student who is from a low income household, learning English, or receiving special education services, and counts each one only once. The median across all 396 Massachusetts districts is 46.7 percent.
District Overview
| District | Worcester Public Schools |
| Grades | PreK-12 |
| Schools | 47 |
| High schools | Five comprehensive + Worcester Technical HS |
Student Population
The students in Worcester’s classrooms are among the most diverse in the state. Many are multilingual learners who speak a language other than English at home, and a majority are classified by the state as “high needs,” a category that captures students who are low-income, learning English, or receiving special education. The exact current breakdown lives on the DESE district profile, updated every year.
| Detailed enrollment by race/ethnicity | Hispanic or Latino 45.8%, White 23.9%, Black or African American 19.8%, Asian 6.2%, Multi-race 4.0% (DESE, 2025-26) |
| % English learners / % high needs | 31.3% English learners, 80.9% high needs (DESE, 2025-26) |
Academic Performance & Context
Your MCAS scores, graduation rates, and the state’s accountability rating for Worcester Public Schools are all published and refreshed every year by DESE. Those numbers move annually, so this guide sends you to the live state profile instead of freezing a figure on a page that will be wrong by next fall.
Sources
MA DESE: Worcester Public Schools Student Profile (code 03480000). Accessed 2026.