Best Public Schools in Quincy, MA

Quincy, Massachusetts is a mid-sized city district serving about 9,769 students across 19 schools: 12 elementary, 5 middle, and 2 high schools (no alternative schools). As a whole, Quincy scores above the state in every tested subject, but its single district rating — 48th percentile, 2 stars — hides enormous differences between individual schools, whose rank percentiles run from the 15th to the 89th. One important caveat for parents: free/reduced-lunch percentages are blank for every school, so economic context cannot be factored in.

The strongest schools are Wollaston School, at the 89th percentile three years running with the district's top science (72.22) and math (66.25) scores, and Central Middle, at 87th percentile with the highest ELA score (64.79). Among high schools, North Quincy High stands out at the 79th percentile with 4 stars, beating the state in every subject and posting a low 1.6% dropout rate. Beechwood Knoll Elementary climbed from the 58th to the 77th percentile, and Montclair ranks 74th despite the lowest per-student spending in the group.

At the other end, Atherton Hough (15th percentile) and Snug Harbor Community School (22nd, and the highest-spending school) lag well behind. Middle-school math is a weak spot at South West Middle School, Point Webster Middle, and Broad Meadows Middle. The clearest contrast is between the two high schools: Quincy High, the same size, ranks 47th, falls below the state in every subject, and has a higher dropout rate. Spending and class size do not explain these gaps. Dr. Rick DeCristofaro Learning Center reports 0% proficiency with no rank history and likely serves a specialized population, so it should not be compared directly with neighborhood schools.