A recent survey ranked Reading as having some of the best schools in the Greater Boston Area, while also illustrating how tight budgets in recent years have adversely affected the district.
The Reading School District was ranked 50th in a 2013 Boston Magazine survey of the 50 best towns for schools in the Greater Boston area. The survey looked at twenty different categories for 147 municipalities. These included student teacher ratio, class size, spending per student, percent graduating, percent going on to college and test results such as SATs and MCAS.
The most obvious reason for falling below 49 other towns was Reading’s low spending per pupil. It is the lowest of the 50 at $10,976. The highest spender is number 7th rated Lincoln at almost double that amount with $20,776 spending per pupil. Top rated Dover spends $17,607 per student.
Superintendent John Doherty agreed that spending was the biggest area that hurt Reading’s rating and while it is great that the district holds down costs, he states the low spending also has a direct impact on the students and thus some of the other areas rated in the survey.
“I believe out of the top 50 school districts, Reading has the lowest per pupil expenditure, which also has an effect on class size and student/teacher ratio,” Doherty said.
Dover’s average class size is 18.3 students, compared to Reading’s 20.4, while the student to teacher ratio for the towns are 12.3 and 14.6 respectively.
“Although it means that we are very effective in managing the school department budget, it is concerning because we do not have some of the additional instructional support that other school districts have,” Doherty said. “It also speaks to the quality and dedication of our teaching staff that we are doing more with less funding”
School Committee member Karen Janowski was “thrilled” that Reading made the top 50. She found it impressive that Reading made the list given it has the lowest per pupil expenditure.
“It shows we are effectively and efficiently using our per pupil expenditure,” she said, echoing Doherty’s comments.
Reading’s graduation rate is fairly high at 96.6 percent versus Dover’s 97.5 percent and is higher than many towns that outranked Reading, including Bolton, Southborough, Needham, Andover, and Bedford.
Reading’s SAT scores appear to be in the middle range of the 50 towns. While Reading’s 10th grade MCAS scores are fairly average for the group, Reading appears to lag in 8th grade science scores and 3rd and 5th grade math and science and English Language Arts.
Janowski was concerned that a lot of information can be manipulated and that the condition of schools was not taken into account. While she acknowledged that physical structures do not make for a quality education, there is something to be said for modern schools with amenities.
“You want up-to-date buildings with wi-fi and progressive initiatives,” she said. “None of that was taken into account.
Janowski also said that she read and agreed with a comment that the list is an accurate ranking of towns by highest per capita income.
“That’s who does the best. We know that,” she said.
While it is tempting to compare where Reading was rated last year (#38) on the magazine’s survey, the methodology changed dramatically this year. Last year, the survey only looked at high schools, including ratings for things like number of clubs and sports.
Having a significant impact on the rankings is that many towns have regional high schools and the regional high schools received a single ranking last year, while this year, each of those towns that make up a regional district were ranked separately.
Nearby towns that made the top 50 list include Lynnfield at 48, Andover at 33, Middleton at 27 and Winchester at 13. Neighboring towns that didn’t make the top 50 were North Reading at 60, Wilmington at 84, Stoneham at 85, Wakefield at 80 and Woburn at 113.