Several Waltham elementary schools and both of the city’s middle schools have landed in the top third of a recent ranking of the leading schools in Massachusetts.
Of the 1,560 schools ranked in a recent U.S. News & World Report analysis,
- Douglas MacArthur Elementary was ranked 289, with an overall score of 69.87 out of 100.
- James FitzGerald Elementary was ranked 366, with an overall score of 61.82.
- William F. Stanley Elementary came in at 492 with an overall score of 48.64.
- And Thomas R. Plympton Elementary was listed at 567 with an overall score of 40.69 (landing it just shy of the top third).
The city’s other three elementary schools – Henry Whittemore, Northeast and Waltham Dual Language – did not have specific rankings but instead were grouped in the broad raking of #718-957.
There were 1,177 public schools and 383 private schools in the 1,560 Massachusetts elementary schools analyzed by U.S. News.
The full list of its Best Massachusetts Elementary Schools can be found here.
City’s middle schools ranked
Meanwhile, among the 1,072 Massachusetts schools (705 of which are public) ranked by U.S. News, Waltham’s
- John F Kennedy Middle School was ranked 113 with an overall score of 76.95 out of 100.
- John W. McDevitt Middle School was 180 with an overall score 63.17.
U.S. News’ list of Best Massachusetts Middle Schools can be found here.
Rankings methodology
U.S. News analyzed 81,024 pre-K, elementary and middle schools to calculate its 2025 Best Elementary and Middle Schools Rankings.
According to the media company, it uses state assessment data to determine how most elementary and middle schools fare. It uses the same methodology for all included grade levels, noting that the state assesses each school on the shares of students who were proficient or above proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts state assessments.
Half of the U.S. News formula assessed the scores themselves, while the other half incorporated the test results in the context of socioeconomic demographics.
U.S. News said its researchers based the 2025 ranking of the nation’s best public middle schools on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education. Further details on its methodology for its elementary middle school rankings can be found here and here.
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