The Springfield Public School System includes pioneering programs in race relations, vocational and technical education, business education, toddler preschool, schools for gifted and talented children, and magnet schools. The Community Service Learning Program involves every child from kindergarten through high school in volunteer community work.
Specialized schools in the system include the Massachusetts Career Development Institute and SAGE, the Springfield Adolescent Graduation Experience.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Springfield public school system as of the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 25,955
Number of facilities elementary schools: 31
junior high/middle schools: 6
senior high schools: 6
other: 9, including one K-8 school
Student/teacher ratio: 11.6:1 (2004–2005)
Teacher salaries average: $47,036
Funding per pupil: $6,263
In addition to about 34 parochial schools, Springfield's private schools include two specialized secondary institutes. The MacDuffie School is a college-preparatory school for girls and boys.
Public Schools Information: Springfield Public Schools, 195 State St., Springfield, MA 01103; telephone (413)787-7100
With four colleges within the city limits and several nationally acclaimed schools within driving distance, Springfield is near the hub of western Massachusetts's academic community. Springfield College, a private school specializing in physical education and health and fitness, offers 50 undergraduate and 13 graduate majors. Western New England College focuses on liberal arts, business, law, and engineering; this private school enrolls 4,550 students, 500 of which are pursuing law degrees. American International College, a private liberal arts school, confers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degrees in arts, business administration, and education. Springfield Technical Community College grants associate's degrees or certificates in business, health, liberal arts, engineering, and technologies to 7,000 students; the college occupies the complex established by George Washington as the nation's first arsenal, the Springfield Armory, now a national historic site. The Springfield campus of Cambridge College enrolls approximately 390 students.
The Springfield City Library, the second largest system in New England, features nearly 800,000 volumes held among 10 branches. The main branch is situated in the Quadrangle, a cultural complex it shares with Springfield's four major museums. Among its services are an employment resource center, comprehensive business collections, on-line data base searching, an African American history collection, an art and music collection that includes musical scores, 300 periodicals, 20 newspapers, a children's department, and material for special adult reading needs. The library's other special interests include New England and French genealogy, the Holocaust, local history, WWI and WWII propaganda, and American wood engravings. Additionally, the library serves as a depository for federal government documents and Massachusetts state documents.
In addition to the college and hospital libraries, special libraries in Springfield include the Massachusetts Trial Court Library, Hampden Law Library, the Springfield Armory National Historic Site Library and Archives, the Hickox Library at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum Research Library. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company has a company library.
The American International College Curtis Blake Center studies learning disorders and A.I.C.'s Oral History Center studies western Massachusetts and Connecticut oral history. Springfield College does research in physiology and physical fitness.
Public Library Information: Springfield Library, 220 State St., Springfield, MA 01103; telephone (413)263-6828; fax (413)263-6817; email askalibrarian@springfieldlibrary.org