Boston magazine ranks CCHS 5th in Massachusetts, up from 28th
The magazine placed Acton-Carlisle High School at 5th, up 23 spots from last year.
In its third year ranking public high schools across Greater Boston, Boston magazine placed Acton-Carlisle High School at 5th, up 23 spots from last year.
According to Superintendent Laurie Hunter, that’s where Acton should have been all along.
Hunter pointed to discrepancies in the data that Boston magazine used for the rankings, specifically the percentage of graduates attending a four-year college. Hunter said the district reached out to the magazine to provide the correct statistics for this year, which assisted Acton’s ranking rise.
“If the data had been accurate, it is likely we were always among the highest-scoring schools throughout the time period,” Hunter said in an email.
Dueling data
In last year’s rankings, Boston reported that 72.3 percent of CCHS graduates attend a four-year college, but Acton-Carlisle’s own data places that number over 90 percent.
The current data available on DESE’s open data platform skews closer to CCHS data for both the current and previous year. For 2021-22, which would have been used in the 2023 rankings, DESE reports that 86.5 percent of students attended a four-year college after graduation. For the most recent year, DESE’s data is nearly identical to the data point Boston magazine presented.
Boston magazine chief content officer Chris Vogel confirmed that Acton provided its own data, but he did not respond to Acton Bridge questions about whether other schools had done the same. Vogel said the magazine asked Acton to update the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s databases with accurate information first, but the effort was unsuccessful.
It’s unclear whether the updated data affected Acton’s rankings or if other factors were at play. Vogel said the magazine relies on a proprietary formula from statistician George Recck of Babson College’s Math Resource Center.
Hunter said the data inaccuracies result from DESE’s reliance on National Student Clearinghouse data for post-secondary enrollment, which a DESE spokesperson said is one of the only datasets that relies on the Clearinghouse, as it focuses on higher education.
How nearby schools fared
The Boston magazine ranking places Acton ahead of all its immediate neighbors: Acton-Boxborough, Lexington, and Lincoln-Sudbury finished at 9th, 10th, and 36th, respectively. Wayland High School is the nearest district with a higher ranking than Acton-Carlisle (4th).
No other high school in the top 25 of Boston magazine’s rankings jumped as many spots from 2023 to 2024 as CCHS.
Acton-Carlisle’s new ranking follows a U.S. News and World Report ranking that declared Acton-Carlisle High School the No. 1 STEM-focused school in the state and No. 13 nationwide. In overall education, Acton-Carlisle placed 20th statewide.
Though School Committee members applauded the recognition given to Acton, they also said the rankings are not a major factor in judging Acton’s performance and don’t drive the School Committee’s decision-making.
Hunter said the new magazine rankings are “one piece” of measuring the success of the schools.
“We are thrilled that [the ranking] once again reflects the success, energy, and commitment to achievement that our schools value,” Hunter said.
