Best Public Schools in Holden, MA

Holden, Massachusetts has five public schools in the Wachusett district—three elementary schools serving K–5, one middle school serving 6–8, and one high school serving 9–12—with 3,942 students and no alternative schools listed.

All five Holden schools earned 4 stars in 2025–26, a strong district-wide signal. Mountview Middle has the highest overall rank percentile at 81st (91 of 478) and improved each year; its strengths include 6th-grade math at 76.28 and all-grade science at 56.31, though 7th-grade ELA is 39.55. Wachusett Regional High is ranked 97 of 353 (73rd percentile, 4 stars), with 10th-grade ELA 58.37, math 66.67, and science 46.92—all above state—plus a 96.0 graduation rate and 1.9 dropout rate, but biology is a major outlier: Biology End of Course is 27.27 vs state 37.68, and Biology All Grades in 2024–25 is 3.33 vs state 39.02. Among elementaries, Dawson is top-ranked in 2025–26 at 201 of 899 (78th percentile) with ELA 55.46 and math 62.18, though it cooled from 89th percentile in 2024–25 and science fell to 49.25 from 68.92. Leroy E. Mayo shows the clearest upward trend (61st to 68th to 74th percentile) and leads elementary science at 61.46. Davis Hill Elementary has the lowest student-teacher ratio (11.3) and strongest elementary ELA (56.20), but math 52.70 and science 48.86 are below district.

Across Holden, schools generally outperform the state in ELA and math, while science is more variable. Leroy E. Mayo leads elementary science, while Dawson and Davis Hill Elementary are above state but below district in science. Mountview Middle has the highest student-teacher ratio (14.8) yet the strongest rank percentile, and Wachusett Regional High has the highest per-pupil spending ($14,535) while Mountview Middle has the lowest ($12,986) on 2020–21 data, so spending comparisons should be cautious. Free/reduced lunch is not reported for any school, limiting socioeconomic context. The main local weak spots are high-school biology, Mountview Middle 7th-grade ELA, Leroy E. Mayo 3rd-grade math (48.72 vs district 57.14), and some elementary science scores relative to district.