Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 01602

ZIP code 01602 has six elementary schools in the Worcester district, serving PK–6 or K–6 and enrolling 2,209 students, with performance ranging from top-tier to among the lowest in the state. Flagg Street and West Tatnuck are the academic standouts: both rank in the top quarter of Massachusetts elementary schools with 4 stars, and both exceed state averages in ELA, math, and science. Flagg Street is strongest in math (67.73% all-grade, including 82.98% in 6th-grade math), while West Tatnuck leads the ZIP in ELA (56.88%) and science (65.00%).

Midland Street is the clearest improvement story, rising from 33rd to 53rd percentile and from 2 to 3 stars; it now performs at or above the state in math and science. May Street is more inconsistent, above the district in math but below the state in all three subjects, with a science drop from 51.22% to 25.00% that may reflect a different 5th-grade cohort. Tatnuck remains persistently low, with percentiles of 28, 19, and 19 over three years and a 3rd-grade math score of 7.5%—the lowest single result in the file. Worcester Dual Language Magnet School is the largest (519 students) and lowest-performing, ranking 10th percentile with 1 star; it also has the highest per-student spending ($20,444) and lowest student-teacher ratio (11.5).

Across the ZIP, average all-grade proficiency is 37.77% in ELA, 40.29% in math, and 38.60% in science, compared with state averages of 40.03%, 41.11%, and 40.98%. The ZIP is near the state in math but below in ELA and science, and enrollment-weighted averages would be lower because the largest school scores lowest. Spending and student-teacher ratio do not track simply with outcomes here: Flagg Street has the highest ratio (18.2) but top math performance, while Worcester Dual Language has the lowest ratio and highest spending but the lowest performance. Note that spending is from 2020–2021, ratios are from 2024–2025, and science is a 5th-grade-only measure, so year-to-year science changes reflect different cohorts. For parents, the key takeaway is that this ZIP has both high-performing options and schools needing support, and school-level results matter more than the district-wide rating.