Worcester: Education and Research

Worcester: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

The Worcester Public School System is administered by the Worcester School Committee, which consists of seven voting members. Students have the option of attending one of seventeen magnet schools devoted to various disciplines. Children in grades three through six may attend one of many PEAK enrichment programs. Sponsored by area businesses, foundations and individuals, the nonprofit Alliance for Education operates programs providing grants for teachers, Community Reading Day, the Regional Science Fair and an extensive school-business partnership program.

The following is a summary of data regarding the Worcester Public School District as of the 2002–2003 school year.

Total enrollment: 25,689

Number of facilities elementary schools: 39

junior high/middle schools: 4

senior high schools: 6 other: 1

Student/teacher ratio: 12:1

Teacher salaries

minimum: $39,134

maximum: $56,664

Funding per pupil: $11,964 (2001-2002)

A system of separate, publicly supported vocational schools supplements the public school system. Twenty-three parochial schools educate an additional 1,000 students. Many private schools of note are located in the area, including Worcester Academy, and the Bancroft School.

Public Schools Information: Superintendent of Schools, Worcester Public Schools, 20 Irving Street, Worcester, MA 01609; telephone (508)799-3116

Colleges and Universities

Worcester is home to nine highly rated coeducational colleges and universities, as well as a medical school and veterinary school. Worcester's higher education offerings include UMass Medical Center, which is one of three campuses of the Commonwealth's university. The School of Medicine was one of only 14 medical centers in the country to be awarded a Robert Wood Johnson grant, providing $2.5 million in funding to encourage training in primary care fields. The Medical Center is part of a medical complex that includes a teaching hospital, graduate schools of biomedical sciences and nursing, and a program of molecular medicine. Another publicly-funded school is Worcester State College, which awards bachelor's and master's degrees in the arts, sciences, and education, and has expanded to offer professional programs in biomedical sciences, business, and healthcare fields. Quinsigamond Community College is state-funded and offers two-year associate's degrees.

Private schools include the highly regarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Becker College, with two campuses; Curry College, satellite campus; Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Clark University, noted for its graduate research program, Anna Maria College, Nichols College, and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Catholic schools include the College of the Holy Cross, an undergraduate Jesuit institution with many prestigious alumnus, and Assumption College.

Private and public institutions in the Worcester area cooperate with colleges and universities from nearby communities in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. With 13 member institutions, the consortium provides such benefits as cross-registration for students, inter-campus bus service, and joint bid contracts on products and services.

Libraries and Research Centers

The Worcester Public Library, part of the Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing consortium, operates a main library and two branches. The collection includes more than 900,000 volumes, including government documents. Among the library's special features are the Talking Book Library for the Blind, and the grant resource center.

Among its special resources, Worcester boasts the library of the American Antiquarian Society, which has one of the largest collections of printed matter about the United States' first 250 years. Clark University's Guy H. Burnham Map and Aerial Photography Library is a repository for all maps of the U.S. Geological Survey. Also at Clark University, the Goddard Library carries the papers of Dr. Robert Goddard, father of U.S. rocketry. The Worcester County Horticultural Society holds one of the most complete collections of its kind in New England. The Higgins Armory Museum includes a library, and local libraries covering a number of topics are open to researchers.

Among its research centers Worcester counts the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, an independent research organization that invented the birth control pill. Worcester Polytechnic Institute operates several research laboratories, focusing on such areas as automation, robotics, nuclear energy, materials testing, manufacturing engineering, ceramics, fire safety, heat treatment, metallurgy, artificial intelligence, and bioengineering. Worcester State College administers a Community Education Development Center. Using a holistic approach, the Heinz Warner Institute at Clark University studies the ways that behavior affects psychological development. At the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park, more than fifteen companies and institutions have established operations promoting the biotechnology industry in the state and in the nation. Among these are the University of Massachusetts Medical Center; the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Institute, the scientific and educational arm of the park; and BASF Bioresearch Corporation, whose state-of-the-art research and development center works on cures for cancer and disorders of the immune system.

Public Library Information: Main Library, City of Worcester, 3 Salem Square, Worcester, MA 01608; telephone (508)799-1655, fax (508)799-1652