Summary:
ZIP code 01226 covers Dalton, Massachusetts, and contains three public schools — Craneville (K–5), Nessacus Regional Middle School (6–8), and Wahconah Regional High (9–12) — all in the Central Berkshire district, together enrolling 1,261 students and covering the full K–12 span. The district ranks 140 of 351 in Massachusetts, at the 60th percentile with 3 stars, and all three schools earned 3 stars in 2025–2026. Craneville previously held 2 stars in 2023–2024, so it has improved over the period shown.
Each school has a different strength. Nessacus Regional Middle School posts the strongest current ELA (48.04% proficient) and science (51.69%), both above district and state, and its 65th-percentile rank is the highest of the three — though its math (38.10%) falls below both. Craneville is the math standout at 49.33% proficient, above district and state, with 4th-grade math at 54.67%; its science, however, dropped from 48.35% to 37.50%. Wahconah Regional High has the best high-school outcomes — a 95.0% graduation rate and 3.3% dropout rate — and strong 2024–2025 core scores, but its ELA, math, and science all declined in 2025–2026. Biology End of Course remains a bright spot at 48.25%.
On resources, Craneville has the largest enrollment (458) and highest student-teacher ratio (14.2), while Wahconah Regional High has the lowest ratio (10.9) and highest per-student spending ($17,889); Nessacus Regional Middle School reports the lowest spending ($16,499) yet the strongest ELA and science. Note that spending figures are from 2020–2021 and ratios from 2024–2025, free/reduced-lunch data is blank for all three schools, and cross-school test comparisons are not perfectly apples-to-apples because MCAS exams differ by grade level.
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