Summary:
ZIP code 01602 in Worcester, Massachusetts is home to seven public schools — six elementary schools serving grades K–6 or PK–6 and one large high school — enrolling 3,782 students combined, with no middle school inside the ZIP, so students leave the area for grades 7–8 and return for high school. All seven belong to the Worcester district, which ranks in the 13th percentile statewide.
The elementary schools split sharply into two groups. Flagg Street (ELA 55.2%, Math 67.73%), West Tatnuck (ELA 56.88%, Science 65%) and Midland Street — the ZIP's fastest improver, climbing to the 53rd percentile — each post results at or above the state average. By contrast, Tatnuck (ELA 24.73%, Math 22.04%) and Worcester Dual Language Magnet School (ELA 20.97%, Math 15.79%), the lowest-ranked school in the ZIP, score less than half as well. Money and class size do not explain the gap: the Magnet school has the highest per-pupil spending ($20,444) and smallest classes (11.5 students per teacher), while Flagg Street has the largest classes (18.2) and nearly the lowest spending yet the top math score. May Street sits in the middle, strong in math but with the ZIP's sharpest science decline.
Doherty Memorial High enrolls 1,573 students, about 42% of the ZIP, and beats the district on graduation (88.5% vs 85.5%) and dropout (7.2% vs 8.5%), but its 10th-grade proficiency trails the state by 11–17 points and fell in all three subjects in 2025‑26. Across the elementaries, math rose at all six schools while ELA slipped at four — a pattern worth watching.
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