Lexington High School was ranked No. 10 on Boston Magazine’s list of “Top Public High Schools in Greater Boston” this year, despite scoring better than higher-ranked schools on standardized tests.

The magazine ranked LHS No. 16 in 2022 and No. 14 in 2023. While climbing up to No. 10 this year is a notable improvement, it is difficult to reason why LHS didn’t rank higher considering its average MCAS and SAT scores are better than those of schools ranked above it. 

Lexington students scored an average of 659 out of 800 in reading and writing and 679 out of 800 in math on the SAT. That’s higher than the scores of No. 1 ranked Dover-Sherborn Regional High School and No. 2 ranked Weston High School. 

And, over 90% of LHS sophomores scored “proficient” or higher in each MCAS category. In the same vein as SAT scores, that is higher than the MCAS scores of winner, Dover-Sherborn  and runner-up, Weston High.

So, why is Lexington ranked so low? 

“What pulls their ranking down the most is the average class size category where LHS is below the mean,” George Recck, statistician and director of the Math Resource Center at Babson College, told LexObserver.

While LHS’s test scores surpass those of most of the top 10 schools, its average class size of 18 is much higher than Dover-Sherborn’s 15.6, Weston’s 13.2, and the area’s average, 15.6. That’s largely because Lexington’s enrollment of 2,318 is nearly twice as large as Dover Sherborn’s and Weston’s combined. 

“I call this the Boston Latin effect,” said Recck. “[Its] class sizes are even larger than LHS.”

Recck devises the annual rankings by comparing each school’s data with the overall average, according to Boston Magazine. He then applies a percentage weight to the standardized value for each school to create an aggregate “score.” 

So, Recck’s proprietary formula, which weighs metrics such as class size alongside standardized test scores, rendered Lexington’s ranking lower than other public schools with worse SAT and MCAS scores. 

“We are not concerned with Boston Magazine rankings,” Julie Hackett, superintendent of Lexington Public Schools, said. “Even if we were to hire more teachers, there is nowhere to put them to reduce class sizes.”

The US News & World Report, which does not factor class size into its annual ranking, ranked LHS No. 3 in the state this year. That list includes charter schools and towns outside of metro Boston, which Boston Mag’s rankings did not.  

Hackett believes the high school’s impressive student outcomes have more to do with the opportunities the school provides than the size of its classes — from offering several Advanced Placement courses, to competing in robotics and debate leagues, to excelling in performing arts, and more. 

“Our success lies in a combination of high expectations for all and opportunities for students to be involved in doing the things they love in their community and on the national and international stage,” she said.

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2 Comments

  1. George Recck, of the Math Resource Center at Babson College, doesn’t draw the obvious conclusion from his own statements — a conclusion I figured out 50+ years ago when I studied advanced calculus and topology in a class of 45 students with just one teacher in a Parisian high school that had not been renovated for many decades, and proceeded to enter the prestigious and highly competitive École Polytechnique (France’s equivalent to MIT cum West Point combined): luxurious, small classes have negligible impact on the intellectual strength and morals we, parents and teachers, impart to our kids — as LHS’s test scores (not that standardized tests are robust metrics for intellectual strength and morals, but they are somewhat correlated) attest despite older buildings and crowded (or is 18 students a “crowd”?).

    When I see our LHS students park their Audis, Lexuses, BMWs, etc along Worthen Rd and note that our current cost estimates for a new LHS are in 2028 $s 3.3 (yes, three point three) times what the new Woburn high school cost, I wish people (and parents) understood that what counts in education is what’s in young people’s brains, not the gold-plating of buildings or other fancy paraphernalia (like cars parents give their children at age 17: my own two sons biked to LHS and earned their own money to buy their used, beaten-up, first car when in college) youngsters are handed out.

  2. I agree with Mr. Mehr’s comment.

    And I do have serious qualms about a new high school costing well over half a BILLION dollars BEFORE the cost overruns. This is how you price folks out of raising their family here.

    Unless we want to be the rich kids town…

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