Summary:
Norwood has 8 public schools — 6 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school, with no alternative schools — enrolling about 3,446 students. George F. Willett serves K–1, the other elementaries serve grades 1–4, Dr. Philip O. Coakley Middle School serves 5–8, and Norwood High serves 9–12. The Norwood district ranks 234th of 351 statewide, the 33rd percentile with 2 stars — a label that hides wide differences among its schools.
The strongest school is Dr. Philip O. Coakley Middle School, which has held the 57th–60th percentile for three years and 3 stars. Its standout result is 8th grade Civics at 51.81% proficient, about 12 points above the state, but its all-grades math (30.06%) trails the state's 41.11% by more than 11 points. F A Cleveland is the elementary math standout at 46.49% — well above the district's 32.28% and the state's 41.11% — though its rank has slid from 4 stars to 2 stars. Cornelius M Callahan has the highest per-student spending ($20,283) and strong 2024–2025 science (55.81%), while Norwood High pairs a 98.0% graduation rate and 0.4% dropout rate with weak Biology proficiency (24.33% vs. 37.68% state). Balch is the lowest-ranked school, at 30th percentile and 1 star, with ELA at 30.16% and 4th grade ELA at 24.62%, though its percentile has climbed from 18th to 30th.
Across the five tested elementaries, math averages about 39.7% — above the district but slightly below state — while ELA averages about 34.7%, below both. Middle-school math is the biggest academic weakness. Rank trends are mostly downward for elementary schools, with Balch the lone improver. Spending and staffing show no simple relationship with outcomes, and free/reduced-lunch data is blank for every school, so economic comparisons cannot be made; George F. Willett has no test scores or rank.
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