William H Lincoln

William H Lincoln is a K–8 school at 19 Kennard Rd in Brookline, MA, serving 494 students as part of the Brookline district, which ranks 16th of 351 Massachusetts districts. In 2025–26 the school ranks 60th of 899 Massachusetts elementary schools — 93rd percentile, 5 stars, or the top ~7% of the state — and is the second-highest-ranked of its six Brookline peer schools, behind only Lawrence.

Proficiency is strong in absolute terms: ELA 71.28%, math 72.95%, science 68.63% and 8th-grade civics 80% — roughly 30 points above the state in every subject. Against its own district, however, the margins are thin (ELA +2.9 points, math +0.3), and science slipped 2.9 points below the district for the first time in the reported window. Science is the clear relative soft spot: it is the lowest of the seven nearby Brookline schools, with both 5th- and 8th-grade science in the lower half of that group. The upper school is a strength — 8th grade reaches 84.44% in both ELA and math — and only Michael Driscoll edges Lincoln in 8th-grade ELA.

Staffing has loosened, with the student–teacher ratio rising about 21% in two years to 12.6, yet that remains the most favorable among Brookline peers (Pierce 13.3, John D Runkle 12.8, Michael Driscoll 13.6, Roland Hayes 13.3, Florida Ruffin Ridley 13.8, Lawrence 14.0). Per-student spending rose about 59% in two years to $25,720, though that data is only reported through 2020–21. Just a mile away, Boston schools score far lower — Curley K-8 School 32.73% ELA, Kennedy John F Elementary School 34.41%, and Hennigan Elementary School 6.42% — even though Hennigan spends more per student ($27,994) with a lower ratio (9.4). The school's relative standing for low-income students (69th percentile) is its most volatile metric and, along with science, the area most worth watching.