Summary:
Zip code 02780 in Taunton, Massachusetts is home to four high schools serving a combined 4,344 students in grades 8 through 12: Taunton High, Bristol-Plymouth Vocational Technical, Taunton Alternative High School, and Taunton Public Virtual Academy (TPVA). Three of the four are run by the Taunton district and together account for roughly 69 percent of enrollment; the fourth belongs to the Bristol-Plymouth Regional Vocational Technical district.
The biggest difference families will notice is between the two largest schools. Bristol-Plymouth graduates 98.4 percent of its students with a 1.6 percent dropout rate, compared with 91.4 percent and 7.0 percent at Taunton High. On 2025–26 MCAS Next Generation tests at 10th grade, Bristol-Plymouth outperforms Taunton High by about 13 points in English Language Arts, 26 points in math, and 22 points in science, and it is the only school here at or above the state in a core subject (math 49.23 percent proficient versus 43.73 percent statewide; science is effectively level with the state). Taunton High, which enrolls 2,877 students, trails the state by roughly 30 points in math, and its state rank percentile has slipped from 33rd to 19th over three years, while Bristol-Plymouth recovered to the 54th percentile.
The two small programs report much thinner data. Taunton Alternative (74 students) has no test scores in this data set and posts the lowest graduation rate at 77.2 percent, with its only ranking year dating back to 2016–17. TPVA (58 students) has the highest dropout rate (11.1 percent), 6.67 percent ELA proficiency, and 0 percent math proficiency in two consecutive years. Note that free/reduced-lunch percentages are unavailable for all four schools and spending figures are from 2020–21, so context is limited.
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