Summary
Dudley Middle School is a public middle school in Dudley, MA, serving 540 students in grades 5–8 at 70 Dudley-Oxford Road, and it is one of two middle schools in the Dudley-Charlton Regional district; the other, Charlton Middle School, is 5.3 miles away. For 2025–26 it ranks 284th of 478 Massachusetts middle schools — 41st percentile, 2 stars — which is better than its district’s overall standing (257th of 351, 27th percentile, 1 star). The school’s rank has held fairly flat at 40–41st percentile for three years after a roughly 11-point drop from 2022–23 to 2023–24, so the decline has stopped but the school has not recovered its earlier standing.
In 2025–26 MCAS proficiency, the school is in the middle of the field but at the top of its immediate neighborhood. ELA is its relative strength: 37.1% proficient, above its district (33.4%) and Charlton Middle School (30.5%), and ahead of the three closest middle schools — Webster Middle School (14.6%), Southbridge Middle School (25.2%), and Oxford Middle School (31.1%). Math (31.4%), science (32.8%), and civics (24.1%) are each below both district and state; civics is the widest gap, 15.7 points under the state’s 39.8%. Compared with higher-ranked neighbors like Auburn Middle (62nd percentile), Sutton Middle (68th), and Douglas Middle (70th), the school spends similarly — about $15,466 per student — but gets lower results.
The school’s results vary sharply by grade. Fifth grade is at or above state level in ELA, math, and science, but grades 7–8 are much weaker — 7th-grade math 25.7 vs. state 37.5, 8th-grade math 23.4 vs. 41.7, 8th-grade science 24.8 vs. 38.9, and 8th-grade civics 24.1 vs. 39.8. Because these are different cohorts, this is not proof of decline within one group, but it does mean performance is heavily cohort-dependent. Subgroup results show special education students at the 68th percentile (3 stars) and low-socioeconomic-status students at the 48th percentile — both above the school’s overall 41st percentile. In plain terms, the school appears to be doing comparatively well for its higher-need and identified students, while overall results lag the state and nearby higher-performing districts.
Thank you for your feedback!