My take on the numbers is that you forgot to share CHELMSFORD's data with us. While I appreciate that Krista Perry is gone on to wonderful new adventures for her, I have noticed that since her departure the "Chelmsford" Patch is decidedly less "Chelmsford" since she left...

Was Chelmsford considered. It only included schools within 495. Not sure if it was included in the study. Probably should check that first.

I agree with all the above. Chelmsford Patch should be about Chelmsford. Who cares about Wilmington or Andover. Krista was a much better ediror.

Okay, the Patch needs to do a better job of writing articles....meantime I am not surprised to learn that Chelmsford didn't make the top 50. Last time I checked we were around #77 (not statewide - don't think the last Boston Mag list included Western Mass. schools.) #77 isn't bad - we are sort of a middle of the road school. Generally speaking I am okay with that. If you want to be in the top #50 you'll have to move. If you look at which schools perform the best, it's usally those with towns who spend the most $$$ per child. Last year Dover, for example, spent around $15000 per child. And if I recall correctly, Chelmsford spent approximately $10,000 per child. And that is one of the big reasons why we are in the middle.

Methodology

Our rankings were computed by statistician George Recck, director of the Math Resources Center at Babson College. We gathered the most recent available data on area school districts by consulting school officials and websites, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. With this information, Recck calculated the mean scores for each category, then ranked the districts based on a weighted average of each school data point’s difference from the mean. Only schools serving cities and towns within the Greater Boston I-495 boundary were included
From the article, I dont think CHS was included. Weston, number 1 on list spends more than 18,000 per student, we spend around 10. This is why our student to teacher ratio is high which is always factored highly in these reports. SAT scores and AP scores are on the upswing at chs, which is why Chs was given an ap honor roll award last year. Some schools limit student access to ap to make sure everyone scores highly on test...CHS does not, and still rates fairly well in that category...Line item by line item, we are in the ball park of these other districts.

HI i just followed the link and looked at the complete list and then compared CHelmsford's numbers with the rest..spending low, student to teacher ration high; we have 95% grad rate, 91% to college ; Bedford, who is in top of list is lower, then they do mcas math writing science, english is our highest rating, which is high. Science is our lowest. The tip top schools on this list have higher sat scores and higher ap scores. We offer 14 ap classes which is a great number, and our sports teams at 25, and clubs at 56 are also great. kathy D.

Thank you - I should have thought to follow the link myself.

I am starting to hit the delete button. I really do not care about Chelmsford in the UK. Why not state the Chelmsford ranking?

What am I missing? I am not seeing Chelmsford in the UK?

What a shame -- I feel bad for all the hardworking people in the school system. These Boston Magazine articles are taken as gospel to homebuyers, and it affects the value of all of our homes. I also find this very disappointing when you think about just how ridiculously high our property taxes are-- and the millions and millions that have been spent on the schools.. Wow.

Watch the cries for a property tax override start.

I don't think throwing more money at the problem is going to change your ranking. Read the police logs, folks. When you see calls for an "out of control 9 year old" at 8:20AM at a home address, no amount of money is going to fix that. Some kids just don't care about rankings like this, and they are not going to try harder, or change their attitude to comply with a teacher's direction just to make their school look good. Some are not interested in being in school at all. Many, probably most of them do make an effort to do the best they can in school on most days, and that is true anywhere. Most teachers are doing the best they can with what they have, and I've met many that are truly inspirational, but if you have 10 students out of 30 that don't share your enthusiasm or are causing behavior issues in your class, your class's scores are going to be lower than someone else's class that has more kids that want to be engaged.

Judging by the last paragraph in the article it would appear that this same article was used for multiple towns such as Wilmington.

With our tax rate Chelmsford should be in the TOP 50, but we are not due to poor money management by town officials. Wake up you hooligans!!! Cut the new editor some slack, after all it is election season. Andrew people get angry if you share any negative information about Chelmsford although it may be true. The wool has been pulled over their eyes.

Related to this, today the state released the MCAS figures. Here is a link to the section on Chelmsford's scores. There's even a breakdown by school http://www.boston.com/news/special/education/mcas/scores12/results/chelmsford.html

Like it or not, these rankings affect our property values. That's all I am saying, and with the taxes so high + the school rankings being less than desirable could equal people passing over Chelmsford as a place to call home and make it harder if you ever want to leave and sell your home.

I would also like to comment about the new editor, Andrew. He has been given TWO different publications to edit, both the Chelmsford Patch and the Westford Patch. I'm pretty sure his pay hasn't been doubled. Having one's workload increase by 100% isn't easy, or desireable, for anyone. I have met Andrew around town a few times and he couldn't have been nicer. I therefore hope that we can be a little more understanding of the job Andrew has been given. I have emailed suggestions to Andrew about improving the Patch in the future when I saw something that looked like it could use a different approach.

Thank you Andrew.

This will not be popular, but if the Teacher's Union was less interested in their next wage negotiation and electing Democrats and more interested in educating our students our sons, daughters and grandchildren, maybe Chelmsford would crack the top 50.

Amen Mr. Gilroy

The idea floated by some on this thread that Chelmsford residents should just accept mediocre schools is ludicrous. You can't have a great town without great schools - period. And while I agree that throwing more money at our school system will not be a cure all, Chelmsford's failure to receive its fair share of State funding for schools certainly doesn't help, and our elected officials should be doing everything in their power to change that. If only the town's elected officials and residents would spend the time and attention on improving Chelmsford's schools that they do on the location and size of our next fire station, there is no doubt in my mind that our schools would be on par with many of our neighboring towns.

With all the talk about expenditures per pupil in Chelmsford and neighboring towns, I found the following comment on the Tewksbury Patch interesting:

1:44 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Its interesting, our District Per-Pupil Expenditures is more than Westford/Reading/Chelmsford but our results are not even close to them.
--B

It seems that we're always looking up at some other town, and vice versa. Also, I think the Boston Magazine methodology lowered the emphasis of the per pupil spending since recent studies show that it's not the magic metric for comparing school quality.

And for them that like to see the data, here are the expenditures per pupil for Chelmsford and a few towns close by along I-495 (from Boston Magazine)... I wouldn't let expenditures guide my decision for a school system.

Chelmsford - $10,550
Westford - $10,697
Tewksbury - $10,926
Billerica - $12,006
Lowell - $12,899
Acton - $13,110

With the behavior I see from the town meeting reps, planning board, and the Board of Selectmen, Town Manager, it is obvious we don't have the educated social class living here in Chelmsford. Fromm the way some of these folks act it is not suprising that their kids are not performing. Town Meeting looks like a circus full of village idiots.

Vivian, I said that elected officials and residents should spend the "time and attention" on schools that they do on the fire station. My comment had nothing to do with money, and therefore I fail to understand how your comments about money make my point "not well made".