Putnam Avenue Upper School

Putnam Avenue Upper School is an intermediate school of small scale in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the schools within Cambridge, educateing 283 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 48% leaner than the typical public school in Massachusetts, which averages around 547 students.

Cambridge runs 17 schools in total, collectively educating 7,027 students. Putnam Avenue Upper School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Putnam Avenue Upper School lists that 28% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest comes out to 25% Black, 19% Asian, 17% multiracial, 10% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 67% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 9.0:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 11.5:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Middlesex County) logs that median household income runs about $130,847, roughly 60% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Middlesex County's 386 public schools (combined enrollment of about 215,896 students), Putnam Avenue Upper School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Martin Luther King Jr., roughly 0.0 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 8%: 263 students in 2018 compared to 283 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share contracted from 35% to 25%. Class-load math has loosened: from 7.9:1 in 2018 to 9.0:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.