Best Public Schools in Barre, MA

Barre, Massachusetts is served by three public schools — one elementary, one middle, and one high school — that together cover grades PK through 12 and enroll roughly 1,457 students. All three belong to the Quabbin district, which carries a district-level rating of 248 of 351 (29th percentile, 1 star); that district label is separate from each school's own school-level rank. One important caveat: the data come from different years — rankings and MCAS test scores are latest for 2025–2026, graduation, dropout, and student-teacher ratios for 2024–2025, and spending for 2020–2021. Free/reduced-lunch percentages are not reported for any of the three schools, so they should not be read as zero.

Quabbin Regional High School (545 students, grades 9–12) is the clear standout. It ranks 177 of 353, the 50th percentile with 3 stars — the only Barre school at or above the 50th percentile and the only one with 3 stars, up from 43rd percentile / 2 stars. It has the lowest student-teacher ratio (12.8), a graduation rate of 86.4% versus the district's 83.7%, and a dropout rate of 9.3% versus 10.6%. Its Biology End of Course result, 43.48% proficient, beats both the district (42.86%) and state (37.68%) and is the only latest Barre test result above the state mark. Other subjects trail the state, including 10th-grade Science at 33.33% versus 40.50%.

Quabbin Regional Middle School (510 students, grades 6–8) has fallen from 47th to 40th to 28th percentile over three years and now sits at 343 of 478 with 1 star. Proficiency is low across the board: ELA 25.24% versus the state's 40.03%, Math 25.19% versus 41.11%, Science 25.15% versus 40.98%, and 8th-grade Civics 22.42% versus 39.77%. Its 7th-grade ELA of 19.21% (state 39.91%) is the lowest result in the Barre data. Ruggles Lane (402 students, PK–5) spends the most per student ($18,251) but has the highest student-teacher ratio (15.5) and has slipped to 638 of 899, 29th percentile, 1 star. Its all-grade Math is 23.90% versus the state's 41.11%, with 3rd-grade Math at 21.74% and 4th-grade Math at 22.81%. Science was a bright spot in 2024–2025 (43.55% versus 41.51%) before dropping to 32.14%.