Good schools?? (Boston, Lowell, Framingham: fit in, new home, best schools)

[gloobella]

How do you go about researching where the good schools are. I can easily find test score results, but that doesn't really tell me too much. I am looking for more information about nebulous things like atmosphere and community feel.
All input is welcome. I am interested in high schools with class sizes of less than 100.

[CaseyB]

What area of the state?

[smarty]

I guess only YOU can define your criteria of good. When you do that... then you can measure the goodness.

BTW... when you say class size less than 100... do you mean a grade less than 100 or each classroom less than 100? Almost all towns has less than 100 HS students per classroom.... I don't know any public high school with less than 400 kids if it is for each grade.

[Atlantica]

West Bridgewater has under 100 in a graduating class and goodschools. They do well on MCAS test scores etc but with such a small student population, an be somewhat limited on what they can offer in the curriculum.

[AandD]

I just did all of this research for my little area of MA, and this was my strategy:

My first stop was greatschools.net . No, test scores don't tell you everything, but they give you a good objective view. I dug deep into the site, looking for reasoning behind the scores. For instance, one town had a 9, but in looking closer I found out that one really good school was pulling up a few mediocre schools. I crossed that off because I am looking for consistency, not luck.

I narrowed my city choices to anything with an "8" or above on GS.net, then came back here and a few other sites, searching on those cities to see what posters thought of the area.

I visited the school websites, although for the most part those are woefully inadequate for any type of qualitative feel. Really disappointing overall.

Then I googled. I googled the school, went to local sites such as Boston.com, patriotledger.com, projo.com, etc and searched on my narrowed list of city names.

Lastly, with a list of 2 or 3 schools, I called the school and spoke to those in charge of my particular areas of interest.

Of course, schools are *very* important to me, and pretty much the ONLY criteria I used in choosing a new home (even above cost, which will mean we are eating beanie weenies and ramen for the next few years in my house). You may not feel inclined to putting in this amount of legwork... LOL.

[gloobella]

I am looking for anywhere in the state although prefer central or eastern mass. We work from home so don't have to be near jobs. I mean 100 students per class year as in 100 seniors or 100 juniors.

AandD where were you looking. Would you mind sharing what you found?

Everyones comments have so far been quite helpful.

[smarty]

You can look at DOE... there are many metrics...
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/

For schools less than 120 per grade.. Harvard is a very good school system...
DISTRICT Grade9 10 11 12 TOTAL
Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public (District) 92 47 21 22 1,426
Academy of Strategic Learning Charter (District) 9 8 10 11 48
Academy Of the Pacific Rim Charter Public (District) 55 41 35 35 472
Adams-Cheshire 139 114 121 87 1,596
Avon 60 57 62 60 752
Ayer 85 99 109 93 1,234
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter (District) 35 9 17 9 246
Berlin-Boylston 73 88 70 69 478
Boston Collegiate Charter (District) 41 39 25 15 412
Boston Day and Evening Academy Charter (District) 20 86 61 100 267
Bristol County Agricultural 118 109 98 104 429
Champion Charter (District) 21 67 31 16 135
Chatham 55 44 53 52 710
City On A Hill Charter Public (District) 86 90 58 48 282
Codman Academy Charter Public (District) 39 40 28 13 120
Cohasset 90 93 101 81 1,421
Douglas 116 98 120 107 1,761
Essex Agricultural Technical 129 118 97 105 449
Four Rivers Charter Public (District) 33 30 29 29 193
Foxborough Regional Charter (District) 34 38 34 33 1,062
Francis W. Parker Charter Essential (District) 67 61 52 59 379
Gateway 78 96 90 105 1,286
Georgetown 107 113 101 90 1,687
Gill-Montague 78 95 85 89 1,127
Global Learning Charter Public (District) 26 18 24 15 387
Granby 109 93 81 81 1,137
Greenfield 94 112 111 119 1,708
Hadley 41 51 46 42 654
Hampshire 147 122 141 118 841
Harvard 117 101 105 96 1,306
Harwich 95 96 103 102 1,358
Hatfield 30 39 25 35 419
Health Careers Academy Charter (District) 46 48 46 68 208
Holbrook 80 56 92 76 1,280
Hopedale 73 90 82 86 1,323
Hull 121 104 104 90 1,216
Lee 99 77 86 98 899
Lenox 64 73 62 74 813
Littleton 91 95 108 91 1,606
Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter (District) 19 12 22 41 94
Ma Academy for Math and Science 0 0 49 44 93
Manchester Essex Regional 114 100 98 94 1,360
Martha's Vineyard Charter (District) 11 5 9 6 168
MATCH Charter Public High (District) 73 57 46 46 222
Maynard 83 96 96 86 1,340
Millis 94 87 85 60 1,346
Mohawk Trail 84 95 90 114 1,153
Monson 120 93 111 92 1,525
Mount Greylock 84 113 94 102 627
Mystic Valley Regional Charter (District) 89 53 41 33 1,270
Nantucket 110 104 101 92 1,295
New Leadership Charter (District) 96 59 49 25 490
Norfolk County Agricultural 118 116 108 117 459
North Brookfield 51 44 60 54 693
North Central Charter Essential (District) 47 65 55 44 324
North Shore Regional Vocational Technical 122 111 110 100 443
Northampton-Smith Vocational Agricultural 107 125 128 93 453
Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational Technical 138 141 124 108 511
Palmer 118 141 119 105 1,883
Phoenix Charter Academy (District) 76 27 14 6 123
Pioneer Valley 77 87 68 76 1,107
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public (District) 85 80 77 82 407
Prospect Hill Academy Charter (District) 77 65 57 54 911
Provincetown 19 13 24 14 195
Quaboag Regional 108 90 91 101 1,436
Ralph C Mahar 148 118 122 93 759
Rockport 82 94 95 86 1,045
Sabis International Charter (District) 160 73 85 83 1,519
South Shore Charter Public (District) 40 42 30 35 525
Southbridge 122 96 90 78 2,148
Southern Berkshire 67 50 60 49 887
Sturgis Charter Public (District) 107 100 81 64 352
Sutton 97 95 104 104 1,682
Ware 86 90 64 64 1,201
Webster 140 163 125 120 1,890
West Boylston 84 90 86 82 1,089
West Bridgewater 100 102 110 76 1,262
Westport 150 153 115 106 1,964
Winchendon 127 107 94 85 1,647
Winthrop 174 139 132 97 1,951

[AandD]

Originally Posted by gloobella

I am looking for anywhere in the state although prefer central or eastern mass. We work from home so don't have to be near jobs. I mean 100 students per class year as in 100 seniors or 100 juniors.

AandD where were you looking. Would you mind sharing what you found?

Everyones comments have so far been quite helpful.

I'll be working in Providence, so I was looking in any areas within a 45 min commute, hoping to stay w/in 30 mins. I have two kids with differing learning challenges - one with autism, one ADHD, dysgraphia, and some visual processing issues. So I looked for strong special ed programs, and schools that were NOT overwhelmed with special needs kids.

I really REALLY liked Assonet-Lakeville. Beautiful area. lrfox connected me with his mom, who is on the board of something or another. She was so helpful and gave me a great feel for the area. Unfortunately I decided that Assonet was too much of a stretch in drive time.

The MA side of the 'corner' of RI were where I found my best schools to choose from. High on my ranking were: North Easton, Canton, Wrentham/Norfolk, Franklin, Medway, Hopedale, Sharon. Nice schools closer to Boston as well: FraminghamSudbury, Hopkinton, Sherborn, Westwood, etc. But from searching through some groups I'm part of online, I found these schools to be "destinations" for parents with special ed kids - which meant less money to spend per pupil and cuts that I didn't really care for (the cost of special ed is ENORMOUS in MA).

I chose Sharon.

[lrfox]

AandD did some extensive research in the South Eastern part of the state. She may actually have better information than many of the locals (as we tend to have VERY specific info on one, MAYBE two districts, but not all). That being said, if you need info on Freetown-Lakeville Schools (The towns of Freetown... which includes the village of Assonet... and the town of Lakeville have a regional school district in which they share an intermediate, middle, and high school), my mother is a town selectman and member of the regional school committee so I could put you in contact with her. She'd give some unbiased info and even let you know if the system wouldn't be a good fit.

Honestly, there are better districts and towns out there, but Freetown-Lakeville is certainly no slouch. I'd say AandD's choice of Sharon is an excellent one. Fantastic schools in a wonderful community. I'd also look at Mattapoisett and Marion as they score very well and are also a bit more affordable than some Boston area towns (they are not, however, "cheap").

[AandD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

AandD did some extensive research in the South Eastern part of the state. She may actually have better information than many of the locals (as we tend to have VERY specific info on one, MAYBE two districts, but not all). [snip]

LOL. Thanks! It really paid to be thorough. I found out which school are more 'sports' oriented (which I didn't really want as my kids likely will not excel in any time soon due to their various fine/gross motor challenges), which ones have a penchant for 'wilder' high schools, which have a GREAT rep but are actually trending downward due to budget cuts, and which emphasize art/educational contests over sports. It was fascinating really, cuz in Texas every school is a football school - the only question is which division you play in. LOL.

Sharon High School is in the top 2% in the nation. We are so blessed to be able to move there. Not sure how we'll fit in, but we're gonna try!