Published in the September 17, 2015 edition

By BOB TUROSZ

NORTH READING – As far as Boston Magazine is concerned, the North Reading Public Schools are making the grade.

Just in time for back to school, the magazine published its biennial ratings of the best school systems in eastern Massachusetts, ranking North Reading number 48 on the list of top public school districts in the eastern part of the state. School districts are ranked every other year by the magazine with public high schools ranked in the alternating year. Every two years the magazine evaluates school districts by crunching numbers provided by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for school districts that lie primarily within I-495.

Superintendent of Schools Jon Bernard gave the credit to the North Reading community for supporting the schools, the faculty for putting those resources to good use and the students for putting in the work.

“It’s great news for the community, I’m pleased the hard work of the students and the teachers and the support that the community and the parents provide is reflected in this recognition,” especially now, with the town opening up the new middle school, its second new school in two years, he said. “This shows that people continue to get a good value here. Their tax dollars are being put to good use.”

North Reading’s 2015 ranking by the magazine is a significant improvement over two years ago, when the district dropped to 60th in the survey.

“I think Massachusetts demands a lot and the expectations in North Reading are reflective of that,” Bernard said. “We have reasonably high expectations for ourselves. I think the school community take great pride in the work they do. I think it’s a validation of the hard work people do. As for the students, I’m always impressed how seriously our kids take their purpose. I really do see that and I have seen it for years.”

“I think we have a good culture here that allows the students to do their best work and that doesn’t just happen. A lot of people work very hard to create that.”

The magazine used a statistician to crunch numbers provided by the DESE and said it “rewarded schools that have smaller class sizes, lower student-to-teacher ratios and higher rates of per-pupil spending, among other characteristics.” The publication also tried to “deemphasize” standardized test results, but still used standardized test scores while compiling the rankings as well as scores from Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

According to the numbers provided by DESE, North Reading has an enrollment of 2,556 and an average class size of 20.9 with a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.2. The school system’s per-pupil expenditure is $13,471.

The statistics say 93.4 percent of students graduate from North Reading High School and of that number, 92.7 percent go on to college. The high school’s average SAT reading score was 527, the average writing score was 527 and the average math score was 540.

A whopping 229 students at NRHS took Advanced Placement (AP) exams and 62 percent received a 3-5 score. The AP program provides students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school. The AP program also gives students and opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both if students excel on the AP exams.

The high number of NRHS students taking AP courses every year is a source of pride to Bernard, who, as principal, increased the number of AP courses at the school from eight to 17.

“I think it plays a role. I do think there is value in that open access to the most rigorous courses we offer at the high school. The message you send to kids with open access is that we believe in the kids. Other good things come from that belief and consequently our students stretch themselves by taking multiple AP courses. Don’t you want students taking a course that will be a bit of a challenge?”

Another benefit is that the data gives the administration the ability to analyze areas of strengths and weaknesses, the superintendent said. He was also impressed with the percentage of graduates who go on to college. “That number is noticeably high.”

Now at the start of his second year as superintendent, Bernard said one of the things he most enjoys about his new job is the increased exposure to the elementary schools. “To be there and see what these young students know and are asked to do is very impressive to me.”

One of the things Bernard misses in his new job is the close relationship he enjoyed with students during his years as principal at NRHS. “I miss it. But right now I still know a lot of high school kids and it’s kind of funny – having been in town a number of years now, more people know me than I know them. A lot of younger siblings of students call me by name, so I still feel that connection. But it’s not like when you’re a principal, that’s for sure.”

“The grassroots things that go on in a school that build a culture are the most important.”