Summary
Gardner Elementary School in Gardner, Massachusetts, is a PK–4 school with 1,087 students, making it the largest elementary school in its nearby comparison group. It is part of the Gardner district, which ranks 326th of 351 Massachusetts districts, and the school itself ranks 797th of 899 schools statewide (11th percentile, 1 star). Roughly 1 in 5 students met expectations in English language arts (21.62%) and math (18.92%) — about half the state rate or lower in both subjects.
The weakest spot is 4th-grade English language arts, where 14.52% of students scored proficient — the lowest among all nearby schools that report a 4th-grade ELA score, and well below the state's 37.43%. Third-grade ELA (28.8%) is noticeably stronger, so the 3rd-to-4th grade drop is worth asking the school about. Math is consistently low: 19.02% in 3rd grade and 18.82% in 4th grade. Every student subgroup the state tracks — including students with disabilities, low-income students, and English language learners — ranks in the bottom 15th percentile statewide.
Compared with neighbors, Gardner sits near the bottom. Reingold Elementary is the only nearby school with a lower statewide rank, while Templeton Elementary School (ELA 34.17, math 40.2), Crocker Elementary, Westminster Elementary, Briggs Elementary, and Hubbardston Center all score substantially higher — several within a few miles. Spending and class size don't appear to explain the gap: Gardner spends $15,847 per student with a 14.9:1 student–teacher ratio, more than Templeton ($13,571, 14.2:1) and better staffed than Hubbardston (19.9:1), both of which outperform it. Gardner's district (7th percentile) is tied with Fitchburg for the lowest nearby, but Ashburnham-Westminster (41st), Quabbin (29th), and Narragansett (20th) are close by and do better. Because grade spans differ across these schools, comparisons are most reliable where grades overlap.
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