Only 23rd? Belmont in Boston Magazine's Annual 'Best Schools' List

Belmont schools are good, some would say very good; most residents with children reside in the "Town of Homes" because of the district's education reputation. Just a few years ago, several publication ranked Belmont High as one of the best in the US. 

And the latest issue of Boston magazine attempted to quantify the town's stature by spending months compiling data released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on schools districts in 147 communities. 

The schools in the municipalities were ranked in 20 different categories, including average class size, student-to-teacher ratio, rates of college acceptance, as well as SAT and MCAS test scores.

After the numbers were allowed to simmer, the Belmont schools were ranked as the 23rd 'best' district – including the elementary, middle and high schools – of the Greater Boston communities in the study.

Go to the Boston Magazine website to view an interactive chart of the study's results.

"[Boston magazine's result] shows once again that we are committed to high achievement," said Laurie Graham, chair of the Belmont School Committee. 

And while the results does put Belmont in the top 15 percent, it appears that Belmont's position was dragged down by a few categories.

While Belmont students score as high as the top-ranked schools such as Lexington (rated number 3), Belmont also has one of the highest level of student-to-teacher ratio (21.3 vs 17.1 in Concord and Arlington's 18.5) and in the lower third of per pupil expenditures ($11,969 which is approximately $4,000 less than Lexington, Newton and Watertown) in the study.

If there is a bright note in the study, the district's elementary students are ranked as some of the best in their MCAS exams just as Belmont High School SAT scores have reached nearly a combined 1,600.

"Good students in the High School just don't spring out of the ground," said Graham. "They are part of the continuous of great learning that takes place in the whole school system."