Walpole High Ranked in Boston Magazine's Top 50 Schools List

Boston Magazine ranked Walpole High School 48 out of the 50 best high schools in Boston and Boston's suburbs according to a recent article in their September issue.

Rankings were based on graduation rates, student-teacher ratios, number of extracurriculars and other criteria.

Over 200 high schools were considered in the ranking process.

“I think I’m competitive by nature and I would like to be higher on the list,” said Superintendent Lincoln Lynch.

Lynch said that with the budget cuts three years ago almost half of the school's extra curricular activities were cut.

"We’re slowly building those back as we can,” said Lynch. “I think that with the override passing we should climb on the list too because they look at per-pupil expenditure and they look at student-teacher ratio. So both of those items will improve, so three of the categories we will definitely improve in just with the passage of the override.”

Walpole's graduation rate percentage is 95.8%. The percentage of students who move on to college is 89%, according to the list.

Walpole High School has a 14:1 student-teacher ratio and the district per-pupil expenditures are $11,971. An amount that Lynch sees as a positive for the district.

“You know what I looked at too was the value we provide for the community. And if you look at the districts in the top 50 that spend less than $12,000 per pupil, we are in the top 15,” said Lynch. “I look at that too and I look at the value we’re providing. I always want our test scores to rise and we continue to work at that.”

“So I think we’ll continue to climb with our scores, not only our academic scores but the other variables that go into the methodology," he said.

The rankings were computed by statistician George Recck, director of the Math Resources Center at Babson College. They gathered the most recent available data on area school districts by consulting school officials and websites, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the article stated.

Recck determined the average scores for each category and ranked the districts based on a weighted average.

Weston High was voted the top school, with Lexington High and Dover-Sherborn Regional High coming in with a close second and third rankings.