Elementary Schools in Winthrop

Elementary schools in Winthrop, Massachusetts consist of two schools serving a combined 954 students: William P. Gorman/Fort Banks Elementary, which serves grades PK–2 with 487 students, and Arthur T. Cummings Elementary School, which serves grades 3–5 with 467 students, both part of the Winthrop district — a coastal community just north of Boston — which ranks 204th of 351 Massachusetts districts, at the 42nd percentile with 2 stars.

Because the two schools split the elementary grades between them, the comparison is less about head-to-head competition and more about two different roles. Gorman/Fort Banks has the better resource metrics: a student-teacher ratio of 14.7 versus 16.1 at Cummings, and per-student spending of $17,647 in 2020–2021 versus $16,490 — about 7.0% higher. However, since it serves only PK–2, it has no MCAS test results in this data, so those resource advantages cannot be tied to achievement. Cummings, the only school here with test scores, shows a clear split: science is its bright spot, beating both district and state in the years shown (47.80 school vs. 41.51 state in 2024–2025), while ELA and math lag well behind — ELA at 29.56 versus 40.03 statewide in 2025–2026, and math at 32.66 versus 41.11.

For parents, the most notable pattern is that Cummings's math results improve sharply by grade: 22.30 in 3rd grade, 35.22 in 4th, and 40.71 in 5th, where math actually edges slightly above district and state. ELA stays relatively flat across grades 3–5 at roughly 29–30, all below state levels. The largest single gap is 3rd-grade math at 22.30 versus 42.19 statewide. Cummings's percentile rank has also slipped from 41 to 37 to 34 over three recent years while holding at 2 stars. Free/reduced-lunch percentages are not reported for either school in 2024–2025, so socioeconomic context is unknown and should not be inferred. The clearest takeaway is that early ELA and math are the areas most needing attention, while science is a genuine strength worth protecting.