Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington placed 10th out of 956 ranked Massachusetts elementary schools in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best K-8 Schools rankings.

The K-5 school on Grove Street scored 99.06 out of 100. Estabrook's 490 students posted an 82% math proficiency rate and 76% reading proficiency rate on state assessments, according to the school's U.S. News profile. Both figures topped the Lexington district averages of 76% in math and 72% in reading.

Estabrook also ranked sixth statewide in math proficiency and 15th in reading proficiency.

Two other Lexington elementary schools landed just behind Estabrook. Bowman Elementary placed 11th statewide with a score of 98.95 out of 100. Bowman's students scored 87% proficient in math and 79% in reading. Maria Hastings Elementary ranked 16th with a 98.43 score, posting 80% math proficiency and 73% reading proficiency.

All three Lexington schools outperformed the statewide averages of 43% in math and 39% in reading.

In Concord, Alcott Elementary ranked 72nd statewide with a score of 92.57 out of 100. The PK-5 school on Laurel Street posted 72% math proficiency and 61% reading proficiency. Alcott's reading and math scores fell slightly below the Concord district averages of 65% in reading and 73% in math, according to U.S. News.

Alcott is one of three ranked elementary schools in the Concord district.

How the rankings work

U.S. News ranked nearly 47,000 elementary schools and more than 24,000 middle schools nationwide. The rankings cover only public schools because they participate in common statewide math and reading assessments that allow comparison.

Four factors carry equal weight: math proficiency, math performance, reading proficiency and reading performance. Half the formula assessed raw test scores. The other half factored in results relative to each school's socioeconomic demographics, according to U.S. News.

The rankings drew on state assessment data from the 2023-2024 school year and school profile data from the Common Core of Data (2025) and Civil Rights Data Collection (2023-2024).

Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research and a Board of Governors Professor of Education at Rutgers University, said the data gives families a tool beyond word of mouth. "It's difficult for parents to figure out how good the schools their kids are in are, if they're thinking about choosing a neighborhood to live in based on schools," Barnett said in the U.S. News report.

Lexington's district has six ranked elementary schools and 10 total schools serving 6,748 students across all grades. Concord's district has three ranked elementary schools and four total schools serving 1,914 students.