Summary:
Watertown has five schools serving roughly 2,844 students: three elementary schools (PK–5), one middle school (6–8), and one high school (9–12), with no alternative schools in this listing. The Watertown district is ranked 110th out of 351 in Massachusetts — the 69th percentile, with 3 stars — but individual schools range much more widely, from the 62nd to the 74th percentile in 2025–2026.
Watertown Middle has the strongest momentum, climbing from the 66th to the 74th percentile and earning 4 stars, with big year-over-year gains in math, science, and civics; its 8th-grade results are strong in all three. Hosmer, the largest elementary school at 758 students, posts the best elementary ELA (50.72%) and math (57.19%) scores and also holds 4 stars. James Russell Lowell has the district's top elementary science score (64.71%, far above the state) and solid math, but its ELA dropped sharply and its rank slipped from 79 to 72.
Watertown High, the largest school at 761 students, beats the state in 10th-grade ELA and math, but science (37.84%) falls below the state's 40.50% and Biology End-of-Course is just 6.67% against 37.68% statewide — a striking contrast with the district's strong K–8 science. Cunniff, the smallest school at 320 students, has the lowest student-teacher ratio (8:1) and the highest per-student spending ($24,988), yet the lowest ELA score (42.45%) and lowest rank among the five. Free/reduced-lunch figures are blank for every school, so economic context cannot be compared.
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