entral High School is one of four city schools to share in Springfield’s most recent $11.6 million Magnet Grant. Central’s Magnet themes, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and Advanced Studies, offers students opportunities to explore in depth many areas of STEM and arts fields, both during school and in after school activities.  With a continuing focus on Advanced Studies, (over 21 AP courses) Central provides increased opportunities for all students to participate in academic course work that helps to prepare them for college and the workforce equipped with the requisite skills to be successful students, employees and citizens.

Advanced Studies:

Partnering with the College Board’s Pre-AP initiatives (College Ed), Central offers more AP courses than any other high school in Massachusetts.  Through carefully planned professional development, teachers at Central initiate critical scaffolding strategies for incoming 9^th grade students that enable them to work successfully in both honors, Pre-AP and AP level courses.

When students graduate from Central they have had unprecedented opportunities to master rigorous coursework that helps them succeed in some of the best colleges and universities in the world, many earning scholarships to help them pave the way to a bright future.

STEM at Central:

Through the Magnet program students at Central are able to work with cutting-edge technologies that enhance their learning in all subject areas. Our new science wing provides state-of-the-art labs and STEM enrichment courses that allow all students to explore the vast array of STEM offerings and enrichment courses. In the arts, students work with digital composition and computer driven graphic arts.  The updated TV Studio enables students to learn the art of digital video production and editing using industry standard equipment used in the video-production fields.

The Arts at Central:

Since opening its doors in 1994, Central has been known as a place where the arts are as important to creating well-rounded students as are academics and athletics.  At Central, students are able to select from a wide variety of arts courses, including drama, dance, chorus (women’s and men’s, madrigals, Intermezzo singers), band (marching, percussion ensemble, concert), sculpture, illustration, drawing and painting, mural painting, printmaking, digital and analog photography among many other courses in the visual, fine and performing arts.

Each year at Central, two major student drama productions are performed: a Shakespeare production in the fall and a musical in the spring.  These performances are open to students who are interested, whether or not they are able to participate in arts courses during the school day.  

Through the Magnet program, all modalities of Arts at Central are enhanced by cutting edge uses of technology offering students the opportunity to work with digital composition and computer driven graphic arts. Music and art rooms are equipped with Smart Boards and projectors to facilitate use of artistic modalities to drive engagement and content-based understandings.

The arts at Central are supported by a host of community partners and individual consultants who help students learn and hone their craft.