Summary:
Zip code 01860 covers Merrimac, Massachusetts, and contains two public elementary schools, both in the Pentucket district. Together they enroll 479 students and divide the grades cleanly: Dr Frederick N Sweetsir serves prekindergarten through 2nd grade (217 students), while Helen R Donaghue School serves grades 3 through 6 (262 students). There are no middle or high schools in this zip, so students move elsewhere after 6th grade.
Donaghue is the only school with test results to review, since Sweetsir's early grades are not tested. In 2025-26, Donaghue's proficiency was 43.95% in English language arts and 44.84% in math - both above the state, but below its own district in every subject. Science is the weakest result at 37.5%, down 7.5 percentage points from the prior year and below both district and state, though district science also fell sharply, so part of that decline may be broader than one school. Grade-level results vary: 4th grade math is a bright spot, nearly at district level and clearly above state, while 6th grade trails the district by about 9 points in ELA and 12 in math. Donaghue ranks 398 of 899 schools (56th percentile, 3 stars), a slight dip from 2024-25 but well ahead of its 2-star 2023-24 result.
Comparing the two schools, Sweetsir spends more per student ($18,455 vs. $16,470, from 2020-21 data) and has a slightly higher student-teacher ratio (12.4 vs. 11.2), although the different grade spans and the age of the spending figures make that hard to interpret. Free and reduced lunch data is blank for both schools, so economic context is unknown rather than zero. Parents should treat Donaghue's ELA and math results as the strongest evidence available here, and science and early-elementary performance as less complete.
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