Massachusetts Real Estate

It comes as no surprise that Westboro, Hopkinton, and Holliston have once again been named to Boston Magazines prestigious list of the best public schools in Massachusetts. These Metrowest communities are often commended for the great education they provide their students.

How Boston Magazine determined a schools value: The rankings this year were computed by statistician George Recck, director of the Math Resource Center at Babson College. As in years past, they gathered data on area schools by consulting school officials and websites, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Education.

With this information, Recck calculated mean scores for each data category and then ranked schools based on their distance from the averages. With this traditional performance ranking in hand, he also evaluated performance against tuition, producing a ranking that shows which high schools deliver the most academic bang for the buck.

Westboro came in with a ranking of #16 followed by Holliston with a ranking of #26 and Hopkinton with a ranking of #30. Other local Metrowest Schools that came in under the top 50 Schools include Ashland at #46 and Framingham at #47. For a complete list of the top ranking Massachusetts schools see Boston Magazine's best public schools 2009.

In this list you will be able to see pertinent data such as the enrollment figures, student teacher ratio, per pupal spending statistics, graduation rate, as well as the MCAS and SAT scores.

A towns schools system always plays a large part in Real Estate values. The towns with the best school systems almost always have a corresponding price tag associated with them.

In fact two of the most expensive places to live in the state are Weston and Dover. It is no coincidence that these towns are also #1 and #2 on the list for school rankings.

In addition to Boston Magazines latest list, Hopkinton made Newsweeks top 500 schools for 2009. This award included schools throughout the country.

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About the Author: The above information on Westboro, Hopkinton, and Holliston makes Boston Magazine Best Schools 2009 was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356.

For Massachusetts and Westboro MA Real Estate and homes see Westboro MA Real Estate. Want to have MLS access to beat other buyers to your dream home? Sign up with no obligation at my MLS Property Finder Site.

I service the following towns in Metrowest Massachusetts: Hopkinton, Milford, Upton, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Grafton, Northbridge, Franklin, Uxbridge, and Framingham MA.

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There are plenty of excellent school systems in Massachusetts. In the area which I cover Real Estate Hopkinton, Holliston, and Westboro made Boston Magazine's list of the 50 best public high schools in the state.

The calculations of the best schools according to a detailed formula. According to Boston Magazine here is how they graded the schools:

"Our goal in compiling this year's list of the area's best public high schools was not to identify only those schools that are performing well, but also those doing so while operating efficiently, too. To gather our data, we consulted school officials, school websites, and the state Department of Education; if numbers were unavailable, we used data from previous surveys. If that failed, the mean for the category was used so as not to skew the analysis. Variables that would be expected to increase when enrollment rises were standardized in accordance with the size of the student body.

We gave our data to professor I. Elaine Allen, research director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College, who calculated the rankings using a weighted average of cost and performance data over several years. Using correlation analysis, factor analysis, standardization of scores, and Grey relational analysis, Allen created a common metric for comparison.

Change over the previous three years was calculated to examine whether improved performance was related to change in spending. Because already-high-performing schools have little ability to increase their relative performance on standardized tests, two additional components were created: a factor for the relationship of a school's improvement to any increased costs, and a current cost-efficiency factor, which measures academic performance against dollars spent. These two factors were weighted equally and combined to provide the final ranking. Only grades 9 through 12 were included. And while only districtwide per-pupil expenditure figures were available, we still consider those numbers relevant indicators of how efficiently high schools are being run: Even if per-pupil expenditure varies, the way a district chooses to allocate its money is still an indicator of overall effectiveness."

Here is the links to the chart detailing Boston Magazines best public high schools.

Hopkinton High School came in ranked #24 for cost efficiency and #24 for academic performance. Hopkinton spent $11,114 per pupil.

Holliston High School came in ranked #35 for cost effeciency and #20 for academic performance. Holliston spent $9524 per pupil.

Westboro High School came in ranked #15 for cost effeciency and #16 for acedemic performance. Westboro spent $12,555 per pupil.

Hopkinton High School also recently was awarded Newsweek Magazine top 500 Schools in the country.

The quality of the towns school system will be a big variable in determining a towns Real Estate cache. A town with a good school system will almost always carry higher property values. Hopkinton, Holliston, and Westboro certainly offer a quality education and have been towns with an excellent reputation. All three towns apparently do pretty well in allocating their expenditures.

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The above information regarding Boston Magazines top 50 Massachusetts High Schools was provided by Bill Gassett, the team leader for the #4 RE/MAX Team in Massachusetts in 2007.

Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 22 Years. Bill's office is conveniently located in the center of Hopkinton MA at 77 Main Street.

I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise! I would welcome the opportunity to earn your business.

Selling your home in Metrowest Massachusetts see Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate. Want to have MLS access to beat other buyers to your dream home? Sign up with no obligation at my MLS Property Finder Site.

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Upton, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Grafton, Northbridge, Uxbridge, Douglas, and Framingham MA.

Click here to view Bill Gassett's Real Estate profile.

Subscribe in a reader

SUBSCRIBE TO MY METROWEST HOMES BLOG via email.  

Building lasting relationships by helping people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 22 years.