What Are the Andover Public Schools Like and How Do They Compare to State Averages

The Andover Public Schools district serves the town of Andover, Massachusetts and operates as a single unified district. It covers preschool through grade 12 and draws students from across the town's roughly 32 square miles. Understanding the district's layout is the first step before comparing any performance data to state averages.

Schools and Grade Levels

The district includes several elementary schools serving grades K through 5, a middle school serving grades 6 through 8, and Andover High School serving grades 9 through 12. The elementary schools include Bancroft, Doherty, High Plain, Sanborn, South, and West Elementary. Each one feeds into Andover Middle School, and then students continue to Andover High School on Shawsheen Road, a large campus that sits near the town center and Memorial Hall Library.

Andover High School enrolls approximately 1,900 students and offers Advanced Placement courses, honors tracks, career and technical programs, and a range of arts and athletics. The middle school, located on Shawsheen Road as well, serves around 1,200 students in grades 6 through 8. These enrollment figures give the district a medium-to-large profile by Massachusetts standards, which affects staffing ratios and program breadth.

Enrollment and District Size

Total district enrollment sits at roughly 5,000 students across all grade levels as of the 2025-2026 school year. That places Andover among the mid-sized districts in Essex County. For context, neighboring Lawrence Public Schools enrolls closer to 14,000 students, while smaller towns like Boxford or Topsfield have single elementary schools. Andover's size means it can sustain specialized programs that smaller districts cannot, while still maintaining a more cohesive community feel than a very large urban district.

2. How to Read the Data: What State Comparisons Actually Measure

When people ask what the Andover public schools are like compared to state averages, they are usually asking about standardized test performance and accountability data. Massachusetts uses the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) as its primary public benchmark, and the state publishes every district's results openly. Understanding what those results measure, and what they leave out, matters as much as the numbers themselves.

MCAS and State Benchmarks

MCAS tests are administered in grades 3 through 10 in English Language Arts and Mathematics, with a Science component added in grades 5, 8, and 10. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) publishes a School and District Profiles tool at profiles.doe.mass.edu where you can look up Andover's results by school, grade level, subject, and student group. The data is broken out by year, so you can see trends over time rather than relying on a single snapshot.

DESE also publishes an Accountability and Assistance rating for every district. This rating reflects student progress, proficiency, and graduation rates relative to state targets. Andover's accountability data is publicly accessible through the same DESE profiles portal, and it is updated each fall after the prior spring's MCAS results are processed. Checking both the proficiency percentages and the progress measures gives a more complete picture than either number alone.

What the Numbers Do and Do Not Tell You

State average comparisons tell you how Andover students perform on a standardized measure relative to all Massachusetts students. They do not tell you about classroom culture, teacher turnover, extracurricular depth, or how well the district serves students with specific learning needs. They also do not capture differences between individual schools within the district, since each Andover elementary school has its own demographic profile and program mix.

Graduation rates, chronic absenteeism data, and the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on MCAS are all published by DESE and offer a fuller picture. Andover's four-year graduation rate has consistently exceeded the statewide average over the past several years, which is one concrete data point worth noting when comparing the district to state benchmarks.

3. Where to Research Andover Schools Yourself

Researching the Andover public schools is straightforward once you know which sources to use. The most authoritative data comes directly from state and district sources. Third-party aggregator sites can give you a quick overview, but they pull from the same underlying public data, so going to the primary source gives you more detail and more current figures.

Official State and District Sources

The Massachusetts DESE School and District Profiles page at profiles.doe.mass.edu is the definitive starting point. Search for Andover Public Schools and you can pull MCAS proficiency data by school and subject, student enrollment breakdowns, per-pupil expenditure, teacher qualifications, and accountability ratings. The Andover Public Schools district website at andoverma.gov also publishes curriculum guides, program descriptions, school committee meeting minutes, and budget documents that give you a ground-level view of what is happening inside the schools.

The district's annual report and school improvement plans are posted publicly and are worth reading if you want to understand priorities, recent changes, and where leadership is focusing resources. School committee meetings are open to the public and recorded, so even if you are relocating from out of state, you can watch archived meetings online to get a sense of the district's direction.

Third-Party Aggregator Sites

Third-party sites compile publicly available data into a single view, which can be useful for a quick orientation. Sites like GreatSchools and SchoolDigger aggregate MCAS scores, enrollment figures, and other publicly available metrics for Andover's schools. Use these sites to get an initial lay of the land, then verify anything that matters to your decision directly through DESE or the district website, since aggregator data can lag by a year or more.

Aggregator scores are calculated differently by each platform and often weight factors in ways that may not match your own priorities. One site may weight test scores heavily while another weights student progress or teacher credentials. Reading the methodology section of any aggregator site before relying on its summary number is a practical step that most people skip but will help you interpret the data more accurately.

4. Questions to Ask Beyond the Data

State averages and MCAS scores are useful reference points, but they are not the whole picture of what the Andover public schools are like day to day. The questions that matter most to your household depend on your children's ages, learning needs, and interests. Here are the areas worth investigating directly with the district.

Program Offerings and Extracurriculars

Andover High School offers more than 20 Advanced Placement courses across disciplines including sciences, humanities, and world languages. The school also participates in dual enrollment programs with area colleges. Athletics at AHS cover over 30 varsity sports, and the performing arts program includes orchestra, band, chorus, and theater productions. These specifics matter because they tell you what is available beyond the core academic curriculum.

At the elementary level, the district offers a full-day kindergarten program, STEM integration in the curriculum, and enrichment pull-out programs. Andover also has access to the Greater Lawrence Technical School in Andover for students in grades 9 through 12 who want a vocational-technical pathway. That school, located on Haverhill Street in Andover, draws from several surrounding communities and offers programs in fields like automotive technology, health services, culinary arts, and information technology.

Special Education and Support Services

If your child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 plan, the district's special education department is the right place to start your research. Massachusetts requires every district to provide a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, but how that is implemented varies by district. Contact Andover's Director of Student Services directly and ask about caseloads, inclusion models, and transition planning at the high school level. Requesting a copy of the district's special education program descriptions before you commit to a home address is a practical step.

Class Sizes and Staffing

Andover's per-pupil expenditure and student-to-teacher ratios are published annually by DESE and can be compared directly to the state average. As of the most recently published DESE data, Andover's per-pupil spending has tracked above the state median for districts of comparable size, which generally reflects staffing levels and program investment. Elementary class sizes in Andover typically run between 18 and 24 students, though this varies by grade and school. Asking the specific school you are zoned for is the most reliable way to get current figures.

5. How School Research Connects to Your Home Search in Andover

School attendance zones in Andover are determined by your property's address, not by the neighborhood name or the street's general location. Two homes on the same street can occasionally fall into different elementary school zones depending on where the boundary runs. This is a detail that matters before you make an offer, not after. If you are actively searching for homes in Andover, verifying the exact school assignment for any property you are considering is a step worth building into your process early.

School Attendance Zones and Property Addresses

The Andover Public Schools district posts its elementary school attendance zone map on the district website and updates it when boundary changes occur. You can also call the district's central office directly to confirm which elementary school a specific address is assigned to. This is particularly relevant in areas near the Shawsheen River corridor, the North Andover town line near Osgood Street, or along Route 28 where lot lines and zone boundaries do not always follow intuitive geographic logic.

For buyers looking at homes in Andover's colonial and cape-style neighborhoods near the town center, or in the newer construction areas closer to Interstate 93, the elementary school assignment can differ even within the same subdivision. If you are browsing current listings, the 2026 Andover buyers guide on this site covers the housing landscape across Andover's different pockets and can help orient you before you narrow your search.

Timing Your Search Around Enrollment Deadlines

If you are relocating with school-age children, timing matters. Andover Public Schools generally begins fall enrollment registration in late winter or early spring for the following September. If you are planning a move for the start of the 2027 school year, having a signed purchase and sale agreement in hand by February or March 2027 will give you the documentation the district needs to complete enrollment. Waiting until summer can create complications, particularly at the elementary level where class sizes are managed more tightly.

Mid-year enrollment is accepted in Andover, but space availability at specific schools is not guaranteed, and some programs have waitlists. If you are relocating from outside Massachusetts, contacting the district's enrollment office as soon as you have a confirmed address, even a rental address, is the fastest path to securing a placement.