Published September 4, 2019
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — A major publication has recognized Lynnfield High School for academic achievement once again.
Boston Magazine ranked the high school as the 13th best high school in the Greater Boston area in last week’s issue. Lynnfield High was ranked as the 40th best high school in Greater Boston in September 2018.
“We are excited about the ranking,” said Principal Bob Cleary in an email sent to the Villager. “It is a nice reflection of the hard work and dedication of our students, teachers, staff and the whole community. Although it is the high school that gets the recognition, it is the combination of all the schools in the district that contribute to our students’ success.”
Boston Magazine used “the most recent data for each school available at press time from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education” in order to compile the rankings of high schools located within or partially within Route 495. If data was missing, Boston Magazine “used data from a previous year.”
According to the publication’s data, Lynnfield High School’s most recent enrollment figures had 629 students hitting the books. The high school’s student-teacher ratio was about 13:1.
Additionally, 100 percent of the high school’s sophomores received either advanced and/or proficient scores on the MCAS English exam. The data revealed 97 percent of high school sophomores received advanced and/or proficient scores on the MCAS math exam. The publication stated 97 percent of high school freshmen received advanced and/or proficient scores on the MCAS science exam.
Boston Magazine also commended the high school for having an average SAT reading/writing score of 579.
Superintendent Jane Tremblay said it was an honor that Boston Magazine recognized Lynnfield High once again.
“We are happy to have performed well in Boston Magazine’s rankings,” said Tremblay in an interview with the Villager. “The bottom line is Lynnfield High School is a wonderful place for students to grow, develop and be successful. We are very fortunate to have extraordinary administrators, educators and support staff who make that possible.”
School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman agreed.
“As I have stated in the past, I find that these rankings utilize one of the more rigorous methodology of all local or national rankings and offer a good evaluation of how a community’s schools are performing,” Hayman wrote on his Facebook page. “Thank you to the faculty, staff, parents, students and community members who contributed to this ranking.”
School Committee Vice Chairman Rich Sjoberg called Lynnfield High’s ranking “a great confidence boost to start the new year.”
Boston Magazine ranked Dover-Sherborn Regional High School first in the rankings. Acton-Boxborough Regional High School was second. Wayland High School finished third. The Bromfield School in Harvard was fourth overall. Lexington High School finished fifth.
Sharon High School placed sixth overall. Concord-Carlisle High School was seventh. Weston High School finished eighth. Wellesley High School earned the number nine slot and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School was 10th.
The area communities that were recognized included Winchester High School, which was ranked 12th overall. Manchester-Essex Regional High School finished 23rd. Georgetown High School was 26th. Marblehead High School was ranked 29th. Masconomet Regional High School finished 31st.
Andover High School was 37th in Boston Magazine’s rankings. Newburyport High finished 38th. Ipswich High School was 44th in the rankings. Pentucket Regional High School placed 46th. Reading Memorial High School finished 50th in the rankings and North Reading High School was 51st.
According to Boston Magazine, the publication “omitted highly specialized schools and schools reporting insufficient information as well as charter schools.” George Recck, the director of the Math Resource Center at Babson College, reviewed the data and compared “each high school’s data points to the overall average for all schools.” Recck also used “a percentage weight to the standardized value for each school to create an aggregate score to determine each high school’s rank.”