Regional High School Ranked 12th in the State

Boston Magazine's ranking of the best high schools in the state has perked up some pride at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, which was named the 12th best in Massachusetts.

Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School students have one of the best graduation rates in the state at 96.8 percent, with 84.9 percent of students going on to college.

The magazine's methodology involved using data, such as graduation rate, MCAS scores, SAT scores, spending per pupil and student-teacher ratio.

Dr. Raleigh Buchanan, superintendent of schools for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, said the ranking should be an inspiration to reach higher.

"Out of 351 towns, that's pretty good," Buchanan said. "We don't want to say we're perfect, we have a middle school math sub-category (to work on to achieve adequate yearly progress). We'd like to be in the top 10; that's one of my goals."

But he also said the students and their parents should be proud of their achievement.

"You should take pride; the kids have done well," Buchanan said. "I'm glad we have parents who support education, or we wouldn't be where we are."

Principal Matt Fox, who is head of both the high school and middle school on the shared campus, said the ranking reflects well on the entire district, including elementary schools and the middle school.

Fox said the middle school's aggregated MCAS scores were ranked very high last year, but a middle school math subgroup scored statistically lower.

"Our aggregate scores for the middle school are outstanding," Fox said. "Our students are proud of their school."