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Private school in Concord, Massachusetts, United States

Concord Academy (also known as CA) is a coeducational, independent college preparatory school for boarding and day students in Concord, Massachusetts. CA educates approximately 400 students in grades 9 12. Unusually for a boarding school, a majority of CA students are day students.

Concord Academy was founded in 1919 by local residents Anne Bixby Chamberlin, a Wellesley College graduate, and Mrs. Henry F. Smith, Jr. Chamberlin, who had six daughters and two sons, was concerned that the closest high school for girls (Winsor School) was 20 miles away in the city of Boston. By contrast, her sons could attend Concord's Middlesex School, the all boys high school where her husband worked. In 1922, Chamberlin and Smith transferred control over the fledgling school to a board of trustees, who reorganized CA as a non profit corporation. The reconfigured Concord Academy's aims were explicitly college preparatory, which was unusual for a girls' school at the time, and the administration warned that "[p]upils with definitely low scholastic aptitude ought to be in a different type of school." The trustees hired Elsie Garland Hobson, a 1916 Ph. D. graduate of the University of Chicago, as the first permanent headmistress. To raise money, the trustees added a small boarding department, which charged the then astronomical sum of $1,500 a year. (For comparison, in 1922 the University of Pennsylvania charged $675 for tuition, room, and board, and even the pricier all boys boarding schools charged around $1,200.) Even so, for most of CA's early history, day students significantly outnumbered boarders. The school's financial situation remained tenuous even after the Great Depression, and in the 1949 50 school year, the school recorded the largest financial loss in its history. The school reached national stature under heads of school Elizabeth Blodgett Hall (1949 63) and David Aloian (1963 71). CA's expansion during this period was fueled almost exclusively by tuition money and project specific donations; when Hall stepped down in 1963, the financial endowment stood at just $112,000. (The endowment would not reach $1 million until 1981.) To finance her aspirations for CA, Hall aggressively courted wealthy, high achieving boarding students from across the globe. Enrollment reached 200 by 1954, but was outpaced by applications for the boarding program, which received four applications for every opening by the early 1960s and comprised 58% of the school by 1966. To accommodate more boarders, CA discontinued its lower grades (which admitted only day students) in 1961. In 1971, Harvard's student newspaper reported that Concord Academy "sits at the top of the pile in terms of popularity."

The school's academic reputation allowed it to survive the growing pains of coeducation. A 1996 study found that 29% of CA graduates went on to Ivy League colleges, tied with Phillips Exeter Academy for fifth among Northeastern boarding schools. CA also ranked sixth among Northeastern boarding schools in 2015 for its students' average SAT scores. In recent years, organized fundraising efforts have generated an endowment whose income allows CA to offer a more generous financial aid policy than in years past. CA's endowment rose from $1 million in 1981 to $91 million in 2022. As with most boarding schools, full pay boarding applications fell sharply in the 1970s. Unlike most boarding schools, however, day students once again comprised a majority of CA's enrollment by 1978, and remain a majority of the student body today. Other notable dates in the school's history include the dedication and expansion of the Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel in 1984 and 2004 05, the dedication of the J. Josephine Tucker Library in 1987,

The nation's first Gay Straight Alliance chapter was established at Concord Academy by history teacher Kevin Jennings in the 1980s. In 2018, Concord Academy banned former headmaster Russell Mead (1971 76) from the campus following reports of inappropriate conduct with a female student in the 1960s, when Mead was an English teacher. The current head of school is Henry Fairfax, who began leading Concord Academy in July 2022.

Concord Academy follows a semester program, where most courses are term based or year long. The school's curriculum comprises more than 230 courses in eight academic disciplines, and a co curricular athletics program. To foster a noncompetitive environment, the school does not compute class rank and awards no academic, arts, athletic, or community awards during the school year or at graduation. The school's average combined SAT score is 1482 and the average combined ACT score is 34. Average SAT scores have increased by roughly 100 points in the last decade. In 2005, the school eliminated Advanced Placement courses due to their purported lack of curricular depth.

Tuition and fees for the 2023 2024 academic year are $74,690 for boarding students and $59,820 for day students. The school commits to award financial aid that meets 100% of admitted students' financial need.

CA's financial endowment stood at $91 million in 2022. The school is currently conducting its Centennial Campaign, which seeks to raise $25 million for the endowment and/or unrestricted purposes and another $25 million for a new arts building.

Boarding students live in three girls' houses and three boys' houses, each holding an average of 25 students. Day (commuting) students comprise 60% of the student body and boarding students 40%; around one third of the day students commute to school on MBTA Commuter Rail. Students participate in a variety of clubs, performing arts groups, and other activities. The campus includes eleven historic houses on Main Street, all built as family homes between 1780 and 1830. It is a three minute walk from the center of Concord and a five minute walk from the MBTA Commuter Rail stop in Concord. Among the campus buildings are the PAC (Performing Arts Center), the SHAC (Student Health and Athletic Center), the main school, the newly built CA Labs, and the MAC (Math and Arts Center). The Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel is a 19th century meetinghouse that was transported to Concord from Barnstead, New Hampshire in 1956. It serves as a meeting place three times per week for the entire Concord Academy community. The 13 acre Moriarty Athletic campus, completed in 2012, is a mile from the main campus. It includes six tennis courts, a baseball field, a field hockey field, and two soccer/lacrosse fields. A field house contains changing rooms, a training room, and a common room with fireplace. These new facilities freed up space on the main campus for expansion of academic and arts facilities.