Best Schools in Boston 2013
Ranking: The Best Schools in Boston
To assemble this year’s Best Schools list, we spent months compiling numbers—released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education—from 147 municipalities in Greater Boston. Here, we present a sortable tool of the cities and towns with the very best schools.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY TRENT BELL / Above typography by Erik Marinovich
A Tale of Two Schools
In a struggling neighborhood filled with kids from struggling families, two of the city’s worst-performing schools are on diverging paths. Orchard Gardens, the turnaround success, gets all the press. The Higginson/Lewis gets whatever’s left over.
Photograph by Elliott Erwitt / Magnum
Top of the Class
A look at the best-performing high schools in a few select categories.
Highest Percentage of Students Achieving Proficiency (Scoring 3–5) on AP Exams
1. Acton-Boxborough 96.9
2. Concord-Carlisle 96.4
3. Lexington 96.1
4. Dover-Sherborn 96.0
5. Sharon 95.7
Highest Overall SAT Score
1. Wellesley 1885
2. Acton-Boxborough 1873
3. Lexington 1866
4. Weston 1853
5. Dover-Sherborn 1819
Highest Percentage of Students Going to College
1. Westford 92.5
2. Berlin-Boylston 92.5
3. Dover-Sherborn 91.6
4. Medfield 91.5
5. Hanover 91.4
Highest Graduation Rate
1. Medfield 99.1
2. Foxborough 99.0
3. Cohasset 98.9
4. Westford 98.5
5. Wellesley 98.3
