Best Schools in Lawrence, Massachusetts

Lawrence, Massachusetts has 29 ranked public schools spanning elementary, middle, and high school levels. The city runs a single urban district, and the range of school quality is wide — scores stretch from well below average up to a standout charter high school at the top. Parents entering this market should know the landscape skews toward the lower half of the performance scale, which makes identifying the right school critical.

The numbers are stark. The average school score across all 29 ranked schools is 4.7 out of 10, and just one school — 3% of the total — scores 7 or above. That concentration at the top is rare even by urban district standards. Most peer cities this size have a broader spread of high-performing options. In Lawrence, the gap between the top school and the typical school is significant, and parents should factor that into their search early.

Phoenix Academy Public Charter High School Lawrence leads the city at 7.4 out of 10, making it the clear first choice for high school-age students. At the elementary level, Robert Frost is the top performer with a 6.7, followed by South Lawrence East at 5.7 — both worth prioritizing if you're choosing a feeder path. The middle school picture is stronger than average for the city: Parthum Middle School scores 6.5 and Spark Academy reaches 6.3, giving families two solid options for the 6th-through-8th-grade years.

For parents doing school research here, the practical move is to start with Phoenix Academy for high school and work backward. If you have younger children, Robert Frost and South Lawrence East represent the strongest elementary on-ramps. Lawrence does not offer an abundance of high-scoring options — so geographic flexibility matters more here than in cities with a wider distribution of strong schools. Visit the top three or four schools on this list and treat assignment boundaries as a planning factor, not a constraint. The city has capable schools; they're just concentrated at the top of a short list.