Dedham Schools Included In State Ranking

DEDHAM, MA - Dedham's elementary schools ranked at or below the middle of the pack in the state, according to a brand-new ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

For the inaugural list, U.S. News published rankings and data on more than 80,000 public elementary and middle schools across the United States.

Schools are ranked at the state and district levels. The best charter schools and best magnet schools ranked as stand-alone categories.

U.S. News ranked the Oakdale, the highest ranking Dedham elementary school at 413. Next came the Greenlodge at 528. Riverdale placed at 608, while the Avery came in at 730 out of 964 elementary schools.

Nearby in Westwood, the Jones Elementary School ranked as the highest in the state among elementary schools in Massachusetts, according to the list. The Deerfield Elementary School was ranked ninth, while the Downey came in at number 39.

For middle schools, Dedham Middle School came in at number 204 in the state, out of a total of 498 Massachusetts middle schools.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News used data from the U.S. Department of Education to analyze two areas at each school:

• Math and reading proficiency — or how well students perform on state assessments.
• Math and reading performance — or how well they perform compared with expectations.

The state assessment data used in the rankings is from the 2018-19 school year and, therefore, predates any effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on test-taking.
Nationally, California has 5,534 ranked elementary schools — the most of any state — followed by Texas at 4,446; New York at 2,211; Florida at 2,128; and Illinois at 2,038 schools.
California also has the most ranked middle schools with 2,319, followed by Texas at 1,942; Illinois at 1,243; New York at 1,219; and Florida at 997.

See the complete list of 2021’s Best K-8 Schools.