Best school districts in eastern Mass and Greater Boston area? (Newton: to rent, houses)

[Beijing66]

Would like to move to a suburban city/town that has good public schools. Potentials places for consideration: Newton, Needham, Hingham, Lexington, Belmont, Concord, Norwell. How are the schools in these cities and towns performing? Does anyone have any official data? Thanks.

[scarletfire]

Hi Beijing66, here are a few sources of info:

Schooldigger.com -- Search and compare elementary, middle, and high schools.
www.boston.com/education/mcas/scores2006/ (broken link)

I can tell you that Newton, Needham, Lexington, and Concord are all highly regarded school systems. I'm sure someone else on the list can comment on the other towns as I don't know those areas. It sounds like you picked some good options already! :-) Are you looking for more suburban or more city-like living? Where will you be commuting to?

[smarty]

What is your definition of best performing?

Performance change (test score) every year. The number ONE school district in 2005 (according to Boston dot com using MCAS data) is not the number school district in 2006. It can easily drop 10-20 places. Will you be moving the following year?

If you use acceptance to an Ivy college as a measurement, why it is less than 5% of any school district goes to ivy schools? What happens to the remaining 95% of the student population?

Btw... US is not like other countries where students are band. Most schools are local (ie group by where you live and not ability). Usually the better perform schools (using test scores) usually have high income or high education level. The key question is what are you looking for in a school?

[Beijing66]

Thanks Scarletfire for the info. The second link does not seem to work. I am looking for a more suburban place, but not too far away from Boston. I know places like Acton, Harvard and Andover have great schools, but they are a bit too far from Boston, in my opinion. I am willing to spend up to an hour and half (each way) on the commute. When I lived in Brighton and rode the Green Line, it took me almost an hour to get home!

I am considering Metro west and the South shore area, hence the cities/towns on my list. And I do understand what smarty is saying, many times it is not the schools but a lot of other things too. Parenting for example, I suppose? I guess you are trying to say, kids from the best school districts might flunk the SAT and end up being a bum while kids from some of the lowest ranking school districts could still go to Harvard and MIT? I agree! But I still want to provide my kids with a better environment, i.e. less chance to fail.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by Beijing66

Thanks Scarletfire for the info. The second link does not seem to work. I am looking for a more suburban place, but not too far away from Boston. I know places like Acton, Harvard and Andover have great schools, but they are a bit too far from Boston, in my opinion. I am willing to spend up to an hour and half (each way) on the commute. When I lived in Brighton and rode the Green Line, it took me almost an hour to get home!

I am considering Metro west and the South shore area, hence the cities/towns on my list. And I do understand what smarty is saying, many times it is not the schools but a lot of other things too. Parenting for example, I suppose? I guess you are trying to say, kids from the best school districts might flunk the SAT and end up being a bum while kids from some of the lowest ranking school districts could still go to Harvard and MIT? I agree! But I still want to provide my kids with a better environment, i.e. less chance to fail.

Since you mentioned that you rode the green line from Brighton, another question is whether you would plan to commute by car or public transit. If public transit, then proximity to train, trolley, or bus stops would be a factor to consider in choosing a town.

Another point to consider in looking at quality of schools is that it's not just that parenting makes a difference--which it certainly does--but that schools can be good in different ways. I'm not familiar with the sites Scarletfire listed, but I know that some sites base their school rankings strictly on test scores. While standardized tests can give some indication of a school system's quality in general, how well the schools prepare students for the specific items on the tests does not necessarily tell you how deeply educated their students are, in the sense of developing the ability to really think, not just learn the specifics of particular subjects, or what the schools offer in the way of extracurricular programs which can add to the breadth of a student's overall educational experience.

Some other towns you might consider, depending on the type of community you'd like, whether you'd want convenient access to public transit, as well as the overall quality of the schools: Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury. If you would be interested in looking farther to the southwest, you might think of Westwood. If you can go quite a bit higher on housing costs than those in most of the towns you've listed, check out Weston.

Hope this adds something to the good info on here. Best of luck with your move.

[Beijing66]

Thanks Ogre for the input. Most of the school ranking sites that I have seen calculate the ranking strictly based on the test scores. I guess there is no other way, or better and fair way to measure them than the test scores.

I have considered some of those towns that you listed but they are a bit too pricy for me. Weston is way beyond my range. Not that I am saying Newton, Hingham, Needham and Lexington etc. are not, but I think these places are relatively closer to the city and public transit and they have decent houses that are within my range. I work in downtown Boston, but can't afford to pay the $400/month parking, so I am thinking about driving to subway/commuter rail stations and take the T into the city.

[NY'er lost in MA]

Beij - Alot of parents seem to put all their trust in the test scores. Why?? Take a look at some of the district websites and get a feel for community after school activities and other groups that support the youngsters. The community I grew up in- in New York was never ranked the best in scores or other 'false statistics'. But our district had the highest success rate for students going to 4 year schools AND graduating. Why? Small classes, lots of activities to engage the students, and an involved community.

BTW- the district with the highest test scores was 2 towns away from us. All of the people I knew there either:

flunked out of college
smoked pot until they couldn't hold a normal job
ended up in Soho working at a discount record store
or got arrested in Amsterdam and institutionalized for 7 years. (true story)

So this dramatic example goes against the grain. I can't tell you how tired it gets listening to parents yap about test scores. Give a child a good community, plenty of activities and a good home and you will see them succeed. Test scores will always disappoint you because they are merely a number that holds no real relevance to success in life.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by Beijing66

Thanks Ogre for the input. Most of the school ranking sites that I have seen calculate the ranking strictly based on the test scores. I guess there is no other way, or better and fair way to measure them than the test scores.

I have considered some of those towns that you listed but they are a bit too pricy for me. Weston is way beyond my range. Not that I am saying Newton, Hingham, Needham and Lexington etc. are not, but I think these places are relatively closer to the city and public transit and they have decent houses that are within my range. I work in downtown Boston, but can't afford to pay the $400/month parking, so I am thinking about driving to subway/commuter rail stations and take the T into the city.

If you're looking at the train for your commute, Needham, Westwood, Lincoln, and Concord stand out, of the towns already mentioned. You might also check out Holliston, Hopkinton, and Ashland. Nice towns, and convenient to commuter rail since there's a station in Ashland.

[smarty]

Many people buy cars without a test drive. Are you going to listen to your friends and just buy the car without touching one?

We can talk all we want, but it comes down to what you are looking for. Some people like big and solid cars, others like small and agile. If you don't know what you are shopping for, you'll just be paying... for something that you don't need or want. We are all too busy... we also want things we cannot get...

Go visit the schools! Look not only at how nice a building is but students' eagerness to learn.

You may want to rent for a while to see if you really like the community.

Best wishes...

[scarletfire]

Smarty and Ny'er, I agree with you. The "how to find the best school system" question I think is confounding for parents. It's nice that there are so many school systems in the state that are well regarded but there seems to be no real definitive way to say which is better than another exactly. And the standardized test issue is troublesome, I agree. It doesn't give a full picture. It's just one measure. An interesting challenge this must pose for parents of school-age children. I guess it's good that there's so many good choices around here!