Boston Magazine ranked the 2013 best towns with public school systems among 147 municipalities in Greater Boston. Boston Magazine gathered the most recent available data on area schools from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (doe.mass.edu). It also consulted town and school websites if necessary. The data included 20 different categories, such as student-to-teacher ratio, average class size, expenditures per pupil, rate of college matriculation, and results on tests such as the SAT and the MCAS. Its rankings were then computed by statistician George Recck, who is the director of the Math Resource Center at Babson College. Recck calculated the mean scores for each category, and then ranked the towns based on a weighted average of each school data point’s difference from the mean. Only schools whose districts lie all or partially within the Greater Boston I-495 boundary were included. To calculate rankings for towns within regional school districts, Boston Magazine used data for regional high or middle schools where applicable.
| Ranking | School District | Enrollment | Per Pupil Expenditures | SAT Total Score | 10 grade MCAS | 8 grade MCAS | 5 grade MCAS | 3 grade MCAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dover | 523 | 17,607 | 1,819 | 298 | 251 | 250 | 170 |
| 2 | Sherborn | 405 | 15,129 | 1,819 | 298 | 251 | 253 | 172 |
| 3 | Lexington | 6,506 | 16,358 | 1,866 | 289 | 261 | 257 | 172 |
| 4 | Carlisle | 638 | 15,908 | 1,774 | 285 | 281 | 250 | 180 |
| 5 | Boxborough | 437 | 14,222 | 1,873 | 284 | 255 | 251 | 178 |
| 6 | Concord | 2,140 | 16,637 | 1,774 | 285 | 252 | 252 | 172 |
| 7 | Lincoln | 1,241 | 20.776 | 1,764 | 276 | 208 | 234 | 157 |
| 8 | Westford | 5,259 | 11,179 | 1,761 | 289 | 264 | 252 | 158 |
| 9 | Wayland | 2,717 | 15,198 | 1,802 | 286 | 268 | 229 | 158 |
| 10 | Wellesley | 4,954 | 15,421 | 1,885 | 267 | 241 | 221 | 163 |
| 11 | Weston | 2,374 | 19,352 | 1,853 | 280 | 239 | 234 | 164 |
| 12 | Harvard | 1,210 | 13,476 | 1,806 | 289 | 242 | 262 | 162 |
| 13 | Winchester | 4,396 | 11,822 | 1,802 | 290 | 260 | 254 | 167 |
| 14 | Sharon | 3,433 | 14,151 | 1,775 | 283 | 226 | 242 | 170 |
| 15 | Manchester | 465 | 13,274 | 1,717 | 287 | 260 | 254 | 176 |
| 16 | Sudbury | 3,006 | 12,359 | 1,764 | 279 | 246 | 259 | 162 |
| 17 | Westborough | 3,515 | 14,007 | 1,703 | 287 | 243 | 231 | 160 |
| 18 | Holliston | 2,820 | 12,089 | 1,682 | 290 | 232 | 246 | 154 |
| 19 | Brookline | 7,112 | 16,556 | 1,792 | 272 | 240 | 222 | 150 |
| 20 | Newton | 12,335 | 16,397 | 1,796 | 277 | 236 | 237 | 158 |
| 21 | Westwood | 3,167 | 13,999 | 1,663 | 288 | 228 | 253 | 169 |
| 22 | Boxford | 778 | 12,006 | 1,643 | 291 | 251 | 238 | 163 |
| 23 | Belmont | 4,065 | 11,969 | 1,789 | 289 | 250 | 238 | 171 |
| 24 | Acton | 2,512 | 11,480 | 1,873 | 284 | 255 | 240 | 162 |
| 25 | Cohasset | 1,584 | 13,320 | 1,667 | 281 | 240 | 239 | 167 |