In a recent study released by Stanford University gauging school test scores, Westford’s public schools are ranked fourth out of 12,220 school districts across the country.
The study, compiled by Stanford’s Center For Education Policy Analysis, looked at test scores in math and English language arts and assessed the approximate mean grade level equivalency of students in each district over a period of several years.
Westford’s scores indicated a mean just over 3.4 grade levels ahead of their average peers elsewhere in the country.
This score was only topped in Massachusetts by Lexington and Carlisle and by Lincolnshire-Prairieview School District 103 just north of Chicago. However, unlike Westford, Carlisle and Lincolnshire only serve students up to the eighth grade.
The study’s most recent data comes from 2013, where fourth to eighth grade students were assessed. There, fourth grade students showed an advantage just under three grades ahead of their peers and the gap continued to grow, with eighth graders scoring 3.6 grades ahead in ELA and 4.7 grades ahead in math.
Westford was one of 33 districts in the study with a mean over three grade levels above average, topped by Lexington’s 3.8493.
In contrast, 189 districts in the study had a mean over three grade levels below average. The Crazy Horse School in Wanblee, SD at the bottom of the list, scoring 10.1995 grade levels below average.
Raw excel data of the study is available on the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis website. A graphic representation of the data is available on the New York Times’ Upshot page.
CORRECTION: Lexington, unlike neighboring Lincoln, does serve students from K-12. We apologize for the error.
