North Reading

North Reading Public Schools serve about 2,327 students across five schools — three elementary, one middle, and one high school — in the North Reading district, which is ranked 33rd of 351 in Massachusetts (91st percentile, 5 stars). L D Batchelder is the top elementary, ranking 14th of 899 (98th percentile) with exceptional science (91.25%) and math (78.73%). North Reading Middle is a momentum story, improving its rank from 40th to 21st in three years, with 2025-26 scores of 72.90% ELA, 75.88% math, and 71.51% science. North Reading High has strong outcomes (98.8% graduation, 0.6% dropout) but its rank slipped from 33rd to 47th and its star rating fell from 5 to 4, with ELA and science each dropping about 10 points year over year.

At the elementary level, J Turner Hood and E Ethel Little School are above state averages but below district averages. Hood ranks 246th of 899 (73rd percentile, 4 stars) with math at 46.97% — only 5.86 points above state but 21.83 points below the district. Its rank fell from 163rd to 246th. Little ranks 123rd of 899 (86th percentile, 4 stars), but its rank dropped from 37th to 123rd over three years, with ELA down 13.62 points and science down 20.37 points. Batchelder achieves its top results with the lowest per-student spending ($16,741) and highest student-teacher ratio (14.7) in the group, though spending data is from 2020-21.

Every school scored above state in reported 2025-26 subjects. North Reading Middle improved in ELA, math, science, and civics, though its science remains below the district average. The high school is still well above state but cooling. Hood's math is the clearest weak spot, with 3rd-grade math at 32.89% (state: 42.19%). Little's decline is broad-based. Elementary science is volatile: in 2024-25 all three elementaries had very high science (Batchelder 95.29%, Hood 94.55%, Little 87.72%), but Hood and Little fell sharply in 2025-26. Free/reduced-lunch data is unavailable, so socioeconomic factors cannot be assessed.