Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 01850

Elementary Schools in ZIP code 01850 are two PK–4 schools in the Lowell district — S Christa McAuliffe Elementary (501 students) and Greenhalge (480 students) — together enrolling 981 students in a district rated 273rd of 351, 22nd percentile, 1 star.

Within this pair, S Christa McAuliffe Elementary is the stronger performer: it outranks Greenhalge in all three available years and beats it on every reported MCAS measure. In 2025–2026 all-grade proficiency, McAuliffe reaches 25% in ELA and 31.08% in math, versus Greenhalge’s 20.14% ELA and 27.08% math. McAuliffe’s best relative result is 4th grade math at 32.91%, only 1.93 points below the district and 10.29 points below the state, but both schools remain below district and state in every 2025–2026 all-grade and grade-level comparison. Greenhalge’s standout is improvement in statewide rank: from 882 of 916, 4th percentile, 0 stars in 2023–2024 to 752 of 899, 16th percentile, 1 star in 2025–2026 — a 130-position and 12-percentile-point gain — though it remains in the bottom fifth and its math proficiency was essentially flat. Free/reduced lunch data is unavailable.

There is a resource/outcome inversion: Greenhalge has the lower student-teacher ratio, 11.7 vs 13.1, and higher per-student spending, $17,499 vs $16,960, yet lower achievement; the spending figure is from 2020–2021. Both schools are stronger in math than ELA but lag the state more in ELA: in 2025–2026 all grades, McAuliffe’s math is 6.08 points higher than ELA, with state gaps of 10.03 points in math and 15.03 points in ELA, while Greenhalge’s math is 6.94 points higher than ELA, with state gaps of 14.03 points in math and 19.89 points in ELA. McAuliffe’s 4th grade math is its strongest result at 32.91%, close to district, while Greenhalge’s 4th grade math is 6.66 points behind McAuliffe and 8.59 points behind the district. McAuliffe’s 2025–2026 statewide percentile of 23 is slightly above the district’s 22nd percentile, while Greenhalge’s 16 is below it. Bottom line: S Christa McAuliffe Elementary is the higher-achieving and higher-ranked school, while Greenhalge is the more improved but still lower-performing school; both serve PK–4 students in a below-average district and remain behind Massachusetts proficiency levels.