Summary:
Gloucester serves roughly 2,737 students across six schools — four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school — and the Gloucester district overall is ranked 259 of 351 in Massachusetts, in the 26th percentile with 1 star. That district-wide rating hides wide variation: individual schools range from 1 star to 3 stars, and because elementary, middle, and high schools are ranked against different pools (899, 478, and 353 schools), percentile and star ratings are the fairest way to compare them.
Plum Cove School is the clear standout: 384 of 899 elementary schools (57th percentile, 3 stars), with all-grade proficiency above both district and state in ELA (45.45%), math (42.42%), and science (45.71%). West Parish is a science standout (48.39% all-grade science vs. 40.98% statewide) but lags in ELA at 28.02%. Ralph B O’Maley Middle has improved from the 41st to the 47th percentile, and Gloucester High improved from the 32nd to the 39th percentile, with 10th grade math (42.37%) the closest of any subject to the state (43.73%).
At the other end, Beeman Memorial ranks 685 of 899 (24th percentile, 1 star) with the weakest math in the district (22.08% all grades), and East Veterans Elementary School, the largest elementary at 451 students, has slipped from the 35th to the 27th percentile and trails district and state in every core subject. Math is the district’s biggest elementary and middle weakness — 29.19% district-wide against 41.11% statewide — and grade-level results swing sharply in small schools. Free/reduced lunch data is unavailable and spending figures are from 2020-21, so funding and poverty context is limited.
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