Mass. school district among the best places to teach in US, Niche says

Dover-Sherborn Regional School District is the 30th best place to teach in America, according to Niche.com, a school ranking website.

The school received mostly A’s and A+ in all categories but got a C+ in Diversity and Food. Of the 1,185 students in the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District, nearly 75% are white. Dover-Sherborn is a relatively wealthy school district — with a median household income of $250,000, people in this district make over 250% above the national average.

In terms of academics, 80% of students in the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District are proficient in both reading and math. The school also has a 92% graduation rate with some popular college choices for students being the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Boston University and Boston College.

Although the school district’s high rankings are impressive, many school rankings lists have come under fire in recent years. The U.S. News and World Report’s rankings have 20% of a school’s placement based on the results of a survey sent to more than 4,000 college presidents, provosts and deans — ensuring that “prestige, or lack of it, always weighs significantly,” a Washington Post report found. The rankings formula is also heavily influenced by faculty resources, salaries, class size and spending per student.

In recent years, the Post reported, U.S. News has responded by focusing more on student success — whether students graduate within six years, how much debt they leave school with and how low-income students perform.

A commentary on WBUR stated school ranking lists “have the power to drive segregation.”

“Privileged parents compete against each other in the real estate market to buy homes near ‘good’ schools, while lower-rated schools suffer reputational harm and serve increasingly disadvantaged students,” it reads.

See below the full rankings of the best Massachusetts schools compiled by Niche.


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