2022 Update: The Best Public High Schools in Boston
An update of 10 Public High Schools near Littleton that I Watch
I’ve been working with more of out of town buyers of late, so these days I’ve been talking a lot about schools in Boston.
I don’t have kids, but I’m Asian so… math… education… schools… people kinda expect me to know these things. 🤷🏻♀️
Defining “Schools in Boston”
We use “Boston” loosely here.
It’s actually a reference to a broad geographical area - Greater Boston - and does not specifically point to downtown Boston, or the 23 neighborhoods of Boston as defined by Boston City.
Here’s a helpful visual of Greater Boston:
Websites to Research Schools in Boston
There are a couple of resources that I point my clients to for their research of schools in Boston.
A popular one is GreatSchools.org, which comes with a neat search bar for the level of schooling plus specific area that one is looking at. There’s a Likert scale for each school and a map of schools nearby.
Overall, a pretty nice UX!
In my experience, buyers who are looking to buy in a neighborhood for public schooling reasons don’t often put too much weight into elementary and middle school ratings.
They look at high school ratings, because quite often there’s a correlation there too - high school ratings tend to reflect the same standards in the elementary and middle levels.
That’s where I point my clients to Boston Magazine’s “Best Public High Schools in Boston” chart, because they could look specifically at breakdowns like SAT scores and graduation rates.
Here’s a screenshot of the page:
I’ve come to realize however, that pointing someone who is relocating from another state to this page isn’t exactly helpful because… how the hell would a non-local know where these towns are relative to downtown Boston?
Yes there’s always a way to Google for locations, but could I do a better job?
Well, I could Google for you 😉
Where are the best public high schools in Boston?
The best public high schools in Boston are not located in Boston city. They are not even in towns serviced by the metro, or “T”, as Bostonians call it. The best public schools are in the suburbs of Greater Boston.
Here’s a pinned Google Maps image of the top 20 schools as ranked by Boston Magazine:
And for reference of where our trains run, here’s an embedded map:
Purple lines are commuter rails that extend to the suburbs. Blue, Orange and Red lines are subway trains. Green lines are light rails (they go slower). The Silver line (it looks grey on the map) are buses.
When you’re done comparing these two maps, you’ll realize that none of the pinned towns are serviced by subway trains. A handful aren’t even serviced by commuter rails.
What does it mean if you need to work in the city?
It means:
You need to drive to work.
Your commute will be no less than 45 mins in peak traffic. It takes me 1.5 hours to get from Littleton to downtown Boston in morning traffic (which starts at 6:15am). I buffer 2 hours for accidents on the highway.
If you’re not willing to deal, the commuter train is an option. But it runs on an hourly schedule and you’ve got to get to the station ahead of time to secure limited parking. Littleton to North Station (TD Garden) takes approximately 1hr on the commuter train. Plenty of seats; relatively conducive for sleeping, reading or working.
Still no deal? Change your job. Most living in the suburbs work remotely.
20 Public high schools near Littleton that I watch
P3Y Rankings as reflected by Boston Magazine’s “Best Public High Schools in Boston”.
Apologies for the super long chart created by Maynard’s astronomical leap from being 75th in 2021 to 25th (!) in 2022, outperforming established schools like Concord-Carlisle (!!) and Newton North (!!!).