Gardner

Gardner is a small, single-town Massachusetts district serving about 2,532 students across four schools — Gardner Elementary School (PK–4), Gardner Middle School (5–7), Gardner High (8–12, which unusually houses grade 8), and Gardner Academy for Learning and Technology (9–12) — and ranks 326 of 351 districts statewide.

Gardner High is the relative bright spot and the only school rated 2 stars, ranking 246 of 353 schools (30th percentile) after improving from the 23rd percentile in 2023–24. Its graduation rate is 93.1% against the district's 87.8%, and its dropout rate is 3.4% versus 5.5%. It is the only Gardner school to exceed its own district averages in English language arts and science, and in 2024–25 its Biology proficiency (48.28%) topped the state's 39.02% — the single instance in this data of a Gardner school beating a state benchmark. Gardner Middle School moved the other way, dropping from 2 stars and the 33rd percentile to 1 star and the 14th percentile; its 16.36% all-grades ELA is the district's lowest, and its 6th-grade ELA (12.72%) is the lowest figure anywhere in the data. Gardner Academy for Learning and Technology, with 123 students, posts a 72.3% graduation rate, a 12.3% dropout rate, a 24.7:1 student–teacher ratio (roughly 1.8 times the other schools), and the lowest per-student spending at $14,319.

Every Gardner school trails the state in every subject tested. District proficiency is 18.79% in ELA, 19.29% in math, and 20.51% in science, against state figures of 40.03%, 41.11%, and 40.98% — gaps of 17 to 24 points. Inside the high school, grade 10 outperforms grade 8 in ELA (32.26% versus 19.16%). Two data gaps limit conclusions: free/reduced-lunch percentages are blank for all four schools, so poverty context is unavailable, and spending figures date to 2020–21. The Academy's ranking, frozen at 2017–18, should be read as historical.