Public Schools

Check out the Department of Ed website. It has plenty of info esp. on MCAS. You could meet with the principal before he goes to K and make sure he gets the best teacher! Make yourself known at the school.

A really good website to check out is greatschools.net . It rates schools based on a number of different criteria on a 1-10 basis. It includes test scores, student/teacher ratios, parent comments, etc. I used it extensively when we moved here from Texas, excellent website. Good luck!

Hi K.-
The Medford Yahoo Group is a great forum for this question (if you are not signed up, I highly recommend it -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/medfordmass/). People will respond publicly (and some privately) and you can get a good sense about your local elementary, the middle and high schools. The list is good for other questions, too, and meeting other Medfordites. Our local elementary is the Columbus and I've gotten some useful info about the school from the list and friends I've made via the list.
Good luck!
--J.

Hi K.,

I just recentley moved out of Medford because of the school system, or lack there of! My daughter was getting horrible grades (mostly D's) due to the teachers not caring what they taught; half the time they did nothing because most of the teachers were either getting ready to retire or were too busy trying to be "friends" with the students instead of teaching them what they need to know to make it through their academic life. I had meetings with the school and was told that it's the parents responsibility to educate, the school just provides support! If that is the case why are our taxes going towards these teachers salaries? I would look into a Catholic School or some other alternative to the public schools in Medford. Since we moved my daughter is now a B student and actually looks forward to going to school; she will be 8 yrs old in May.

I do not know anything about that area, but you could call the school and ask for a few of the mom's phone numbers that you chat with and see first hand their opinions regarding the school.