Summary
Thoreau is a PK–5 public elementary school on Prairie Street in Concord, Massachusetts, serving 401 students in the Concord public school district. It performs well above the state average: in 2025–2026, 67.93% of students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts and 69.02% in math — roughly 28 percentage points above state rates in both — with science at 60.27%, about 19 points above the state. It ranks 98th of 899 ranked elementary schools (89th percentile, 4 stars), its weakest result on record after nine 5-star years in the last ten.
Learning conditions are a clear strength: Thoreau's 10.1:1 student–teacher ratio is the lowest of any nearby school, and its per-pupil spending of $22,631 is the highest in the comparison set. Within Concord, Thoreau now ranks behind Willard (79th statewide) and ahead of Alcott (157th), though it stays essentially at district par in ELA and math. Science is the outlier: at 60.27% it sits 9.7 points below the district average and well below nearby Sudbury and Acton-Boxborough schools such as Josiah Haynes, Luther Conant School, and General John Nixon Elementary. Math is solid but trails those schools by roughly 5 to 10 points. Notably, Paul P Gates Elementary School posts 77.93% ELA, 79.44% math, and 97.5% science at about $16,700 per pupil, roughly 22% less spending per student.
Two things are worth watching. First, fifth-grade science and math: Thoreau's 60.27% and 61.64% sit at or slightly below district par, while Willard's grade 5 posts 72.86% in math and 72.46% in science. Because science is tested only in grade 5, this reflects one cohort of roughly 60–70 students and can swing sharply. Second, internal gaps: female students remain a standout at the 92nd percentile, but male students have slipped from the 93rd to the 88th percentile and special education students from the 94th to the 82nd, though both groups remain solid. The bright spot is grade-3 ELA at 85.11%, the highest in the district. Overall, Thoreau remains strong and well-resourced, on a two-year plateau rather than in decline, with ELA and math both improving year over year.
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