Boston’s Best Schools 2012: Top 50 Ranking of High Schools in Boston and Boston Suburbs

Our exclusive ranking of Boston's top 50 best high schools.

We want the best for our kids, and picking the right school is a vital part of that process. But with so many factors to consider (graduation rates, student-teacher ratios, number of extracurriculars, and so on), finding the best school takes time, research, and expert analysis—which is exactly what we did in our Boston’s Best School coverage.

Below is our proprietary ranking of Boston’s 50 Best Schools 2012, based on data collected in 15 different categories. Don’t see your child’s school on the list? Sort through our chart of more than 200 schools in Boston and Boston suburbs by category, including MCAS, AP, and SAT scores; per pupil expenditures by district; number of AP classes, sports, and clubs; and more.

More of our in-depth schools coverage can be found online and in print in our annual Boston’s Best Schools 2012 issue.

Rank School District Enrollment Student:Teacher District Per-Pupil
Expenditures		 % Graduation Rate % to College 10th Gr. MCAS
English		 10th Gr. MCAS
Math		 10th Gr. MCAS
Science		 Avg. SAT
Reading		 Avg. SAT
Writing		 Avg. SAT
Math		 % Scoring AP
Proficiency*		 # of AP Classes # of Varsity Sports # of Clubs
1 Weston High Weston 757 10.6 18,591 95.6 98 96 95 84 613 620 630 87.7 15 24 50
2 Lexington High Lexington 1951 12.7 15,862 95.3 95 100 97 97 622 627 645 95.2 17 27 120
3 Dover-Sherborn Regional High Dover 637 10.2 15,901 95.2 99 99 99 99 591 586 604 89.4 16 28 24
4 Concord-Carlisle High Concord-Carlisle 1209 13.6 18,872 98 92 97 94 94 601 602 625 98.7 8 25 35
5 Wellesley Senior High Wellesley 1353 11.6 15,392 99 95 99 96 78 600 612 605 92.4 17 36 55
6 Wayland High Wayland 856 13 15,219 97 92 98 92 88 592 606 629 87.6 7 24 52
7 Newton South High Newton 1691 13.4 16,597 97.5 90 96 94 83 601 618 633 95.2 17 34 60
8 Sharon High Sharon 1151 13.7 13,932 97.8 95 99 98 95 591 601 603 94.3 17 28 34
9 Acton-Boxborough Regional High School Acton 1955 16.8 13,110 96.5 98 98 97 96 616 627 649 97.4 16 33 33
10 Bedford High School Bedford 855 11.1 15,961 94.1 89 95 93 88 565 567 587 92.0 8 28 60
11 Newton North High Newton 1848 12 16,597 95.8 88 92 92 90 585 582 600 91.8 19 32 80
12 Belmont High Belmont 1083 17.4 11,609 94.8 97 99 97 96 603 605 627 95.1 16 28 59
13 Westwood High Westwood 922 12.9 13,814 97.1 97 98 95 93 566 567 581 93.7 14 26 37
14 Needham High Needham 1503 14.5 13,245 98.7 96 96 94 93 588 594 601 91.9 15 27 81
15 Brookline High Brookline 1804 11.6 17,090 91.5 88 94 90 82 572 574 598 91.6 18 40 80
16 Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High Sudbury 1601 13.2 16,324 97.9 93 96 94 82 580 582 604 95.8 5 27 40
17 Winchester High Winchester 1091 13.5 11,363 94.9 95 98 94 91 583 603 617 77.1 14 32 29
18 Medfield Senior High Medfield 898 14.4 10,741 98.7 97 100 98 94 578 583 598 89.8 13 23 32
19 Hamilton-Wenham Regional High Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District 705 11.3 14,283 97.6 88 98 92 90 573 561 576 82.0 10 23 20
20 Boston Latin Boston 2352 23.1 16,666 98.7 98 100 100 98 621 613 638 76.2 23 22 111
21 Marblehead High Marblehead 949 12.3 12,235 96.9 99 97 96 89 558 551 571 87.4 11 26 47
22 Westford Academy Westford 1679 14.9 10,697 97.7 99 97 97 94 583 582 602 90.8 18 33 47
23 Hopkinton High Hopkinton 1069 13.5 11,921 99.2 94 99 97 98 568 571 579 86.6 15 22 20
24 Algonquin Regional High Northborough/Southborough 1446 14.2 13,695 95.5 97 96 92 91 557 563 580 94.3 20 31 60
25 Manchester Essex Regional High School Manchester Essex Regional 470 13.1 13,582 97.3 91 90 87 85 574 571 580 87.5 14 22 12
26 Holliston High Holliston 827 12.8 12,186 98.2 95 95 91 90 546 549 577 89.5 11 24 24
27 Andover High School Andover 1784 15 13,263 96.8 98 98 96 87 561 555 584 80.8 15 33 42
28 Lynnfield High Lynnfield 618 12.6 11,033 97.8 97 97 93 91 529 534 567 86.6 10 18 38
29 Cohasset Middle/High School Cohasset 711 13.4 13,520 94.5 87 98 99 84 555 552 572 80.5 8 25 12
30 Norwell High Norwell 667 14.3 11,380 97.5 94 98 93 86 548 549 568 74.8 16 29 30
31 Littleton High School Littleton 416 15.9 11,881 96.8 97 98 95 97 545 541 540 79.7 10 23 24
32 Hingham High Hingham 1133 14.4 10,982 95.1 90 96 91 89 565 571 581 89.0 15 36 25
32** North Reading High North Reading 705 11.3 $11,842 93.3 94 98 92 92 543 544 556 53.2 15 17 31
33 Duxbury High Duxbury 1024 12.4 11,084 98.6 96 98 97 90 558 554 563 73.2 19 18 19
34 Newburyport High Newburyport 707 12.1 13,435 93.6 92 94 90 76 546 543 560 78.7 13 22 20
35 Cambridge Rindge and Latin Cambridge 1616 9.4 25,737 87.5 92 84 79 62 510 498 514 76.6 19 33 51
35** Nashoba Regional High Nashoba Regional 991 14.7 $12,498 95.4 90 96 94 87 561 558 585 86.5 11 25 20
36 Rockport High Rockport 293 12.4 13,067 91 94 99 90 85 539 502 530 57.9 9 15 25
37 Natick High Natick 1307 13.7 12,910 93 92 95 90 87 536 531 547 86.4 14 30 60
38 Reading Memorial High Reading 1362 15.1 10,749 97.2 87 95 93 87 548 549 577 88.5 13 26 54
39 Ashland High Ashland 717 14.2 11,546 91.9 86 96 93 86 532 534 556 87.4 20 26 33
40 Arlington High Arlington 1218 15.7 12,502 95.4 91 96 93 83 561 557 577 81.2 13 20 29
41 Masconomet Regional High School Topsfield 1308 16.3 12,718 99.4 97 96 95 93 547 552 562 87.9 18 16 28
42 Foxborough High Foxborough 844 13.3 12,125 96.1 89 94 87 87 529 545 554 78.7 12 22 28
43 Burlington High Burlington 1103 12.9 14,276 94.8 88 95 93 75 524 530 539 76.0 19 28 40
44 Ipswich High Ipswich 655 12.9 10,902 94.4 92 94 91 85 539 540 546 60.8 9 24 23
45 Canton High Canton 883 14.1 12,916 97 95 95 90 87 505 511 554 68.3 11 28 46
46 Georgetown Middle/High Georgetown 846 13.7 9,148 93.7 95 95 91 92 533 540 554 94.7 6 17 22
47 Pentucket Regional Senior High Pentucket 789 13.1 10,751 92.7 92 93 92 86 541 534 539 66.9 12 19 41
48 Walpole High Walpole 1119 14 11,971 95.8 89 97 90 94 527 527 536 83.6 14 25 21
49 Swampscott High Swampscott 741 12.8 12,448 96.8 96 93 87 84 521 512 524 58.7 21 28 35
50 Millis High School Millis 379 15.6 10,391 95.7 95 99 94 78 532 532 536 66.4 6 15 19

* AP proficiency is defined by scoring 3-5 on AP exams.

Methodology

Our rankings were computed by statistician George Recck, director of the Math Resources Center at Babson College. We gathered the most recent available data on area school districts by consulting school officials and websites, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. With this information, Recck calculated the mean scores for each category, then ranked the districts based on a weighted average of each school data point's difference from the mean. Only schools serving cities and towns within the Greater Boston I-495 boundary were included.

Research by Rachel Amico, Alyssa DeGeorge, Diane DeSantis, Michael Fubini, Robert Johnson, Hannah Lott-Schwartz, Amanda Newman, Brent Persun, and Gina Tomaine.

** Due to a reporter error, North Reading High was omitted from our initial rankings.