Malden

Malden, Massachusetts has six schools — five K–8 elementary campuses and one high school — serving 6,116 students, about 31% of them at Malden High, in the Malden district, which is built entirely on the K–8 model with no standalone middle schools.

Three schools stand out. Forestdale is the city's top-ranked school at 379 of 899 (58th percentile, 3 stars), having climbed 105 places over three years; it leads elementaries in English language arts at 42.37%, posts the highest single result in the data (3rd grade math, 57.78%), and has the smallest enrollment (539), the lowest student-to-teacher ratio (10.4) and the highest per-student spending ($17,913). Beebe has the strongest all-around academic profile, topping elementaries in math (40.99%) and science (44.94%) and posting 8th grade civics at 57.32%. Ferryway is the literacy engine, second in ELA (41.87%) and owner of the city's best upper-grade reading (7th grade ELA 52.13%, 8th grade ELA 51.58%) — on the lowest per-student spending of the six ($15,253).

At the other end, Salemwood is the only 1-star school and the lowest in every subject (ELA 23.71%, math 29.10%, science 20.88%), though its 6th grade math reaches 50.00%. Malden High holds a steady 2 stars, with a graduation rate of 85.7% and a dropout rate of 9.2% — roughly 1 in 11 — while its 10th grade scores sit 9–12 points below state; it also spends the least per student ($14,949) with the highest student-to-teacher ratio (16.0). Two caveats: free/reduced-lunch percentages are blank for every school, and spending figures date to 2020–21.