Summary:
ZIP code 01420 covers Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and contains two middle schools serving grades 6–8: Arthur M Longsjo Middle School (614 students) and Memorial Middle School (601 students), both in the Fitchburg district, which ranks 325 of 351 districts at the 7th percentile with 0 stars. Both schools score below state averages in every subject, and both have slipped in relative ranking over the past three years.
Memorial is the stronger school academically. In 2025–26 it ranks 337 out of 478 schools, at the 29th percentile, while Longsjo ranks 423 out of 478, at the 12th percentile. Memorial leads in all-grade ELA (29.51 vs. 15.99), Math (23.88 vs. 12.72), and Civics (23.03 vs. 15.63), and it beats the district average in those three subjects. Its best result is 8th-grade ELA at 34.52 percent, the closest either school comes to state-level performance. Science is an exact tie: both schools score 19.88 percent. Memorial earned 2 stars in 2023–24 and 2024–25 before dropping to 1 star, and its ELA proficiency fell from 37.66 to 29.51 year over year, though Math and Civics held steady.
Longsjo stands out for resources, not results. It has a smaller student-teacher ratio (11.3 vs. 13.0) and slightly higher per-student spending ($15,802 vs. $15,529), yet its scores trail Memorial in nearly every subject. Its weakest areas are 6th-grade Math (11.54) and 6th-grade ELA (10.81), while 8th-grade Science (19.88) is its brightest spot and sits slightly above the district's 19.21. Families should note some data gaps: free/reduced-lunch percentages are not available for either school, and the spending figures date back to 2020–21.
Thank you for your feedback!