Summary
Belmont Middle School is a grades 7–8 school in Belmont, MA—a Boston-area suburb—serving 742 students as part of the Belmont school district, and it ranks among Massachusetts’ top middle schools: 11th of 478 in 2025–2026 (98th percentile, 5 stars), after 6th in 2024–2025 and 4th in 2023–2024. In 2025–2026, proficiency was ELA 73.43%, Math 74.68%, Science 79.1%, and Civics 80.87%, far above state rates of ELA 40.03%, Math 41.11%, Science 40.98%, and Civics 39.77%—with Science and Civics nearly double the state proficiency. The school also beats its district averages in every tested subject, though its 2024–2025 student-teacher ratio was 15.5, up from 14.2 in 2023–2024.
Compared with nearby schools, Belmont Middle School is top-tier. Ottoson Middle is the closest peer: it edges the school in ELA (77.43% vs 73.43%) and Math (76.18% vs 74.68%), while the school leads in Science (79.1% vs 77.6%) and is close in Civics (80.87% vs 82.66%); it also has a lower student-teacher ratio (11.3 vs 15.5). The school clearly outperforms most other area middle schools, including John F Kennedy Middle, Watertown Middle, Putnam Avenue Upper School, John J. McGlynn Middle School, and Bigelow Middle, often by 20–45 points in Math and Science. Winthrop L Chenery Upper Elementary, the same district’s grades 4–6 school, is also strong but lower in ELA, Math, and Science. Next Wave Junior High is a small specialized outlier and not directly comparable.
The overall takeaway is that Belmont Middle School remains a highly effective, top-tier school, but there are areas to watch. Math and Science proficiency have softened since 2023–2024, even though ELA is essentially stable. Most student groups perform at a high level, but results are less uniform for some, including students from low-income backgrounds, whose relative rank fell from 94th in 2024–2025 to 85th in 2025–2026; equity trends and subject-level declines are the most important things to monitor. The school’s relatively high student-teacher ratio compared with peers suggests it achieves these outcomes despite larger classes, though free/reduced lunch and spending data for the school are not available, so cost-effectiveness cannot be fully assessed.
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