Best Public Schools in Florence, MA

Florence, Massachusetts has two public schools in this data set—one elementary school serving grades K–5 and one middle school serving grades 6–8—with no high school or alternative school listed locally. Both are in the Northampton district, ranked 139 of 351 (60th percentile) with a 3-star rating. Combined enrollment is 808 students: John F Kennedy Middle School has 577, and R. K. Finn Ryan Road has 231. Free/reduced lunch percentages are not reported for either school, so that economic information is unknown.

John F Kennedy Middle School is higher-ranked: 151 of 478 middle schools, 68th percentile, 3 stars, after improving from 58th to 63rd to 68th percentile. ELA is 52.13% vs 40.03% state (+12.10 points), science is 53.90% vs 40.98% (+12.92), and civics is 43.40% vs 39.77% (+3.63). Math is its relative weakness: 38.10% vs 41.11% state (−3.01). R. K. Finn Ryan Road is the standout improver: 351 of 899 elementary schools, 61st percentile, 3 stars, up from 542 of 906, 40th percentile, 2 stars—a 191-position and 21-percentile gain. Its math is 43.86% vs 41.11% state (+2.75) and 38.37% district (+5.49), with a notable year-over-year math gain (+15.29 points). Science is 52.38% vs 40.98% state (+11.40), while ELA is 47.37% vs 40.03% (+7.34) but slightly below district (−0.94).

Both schools exceed the state in ELA and science, with science the shared strength: JFK is +12.92 points above state and Ryan Road +11.40. Math splits them: JFK trails state by 3.01 points, while Ryan Road beats state by 2.75 and district by 5.49. JFK’s rank trend is steady improvement; Ryan Road’s is a sharp rebound from 2 stars to 3. Resource differences are modest: Ryan Road has a lower student-to-teacher ratio (9.3 vs 10.1) and higher 2020–21 per-student spending ($19,114 vs $18,318), though that spending may not reflect current budgets. Because the schools serve different grade spans, direct comparisons are limited, but both perform above the state in ELA and science, with math performance and momentum the main differentiator.