Graham and Parks vs Maria L. Baldwin

Maria L. Baldwin and Graham and Parks are two of the highest-rated elementary schools in Massachusetts, separated by just 0.4 miles in Cambridge. Maria L. Baldwin holds the top spot statewide — ranked #1 of 1791 Massachusetts schools — while Graham and Parks ranks #10 of 1791, an extraordinary result that illustrates how competitive this half-mile stretch of Cambridge truly is. The overall rating gap between them is just 0.5 points: Maria L. Baldwin scores 9.9/10 against Graham and Parks' 9.4/10, meaning both schools clear a bar that nearly every other school in the state cannot reach.

The clearest separation between the two schools is academic achievement. Maria L. Baldwin posts an academic score of 9.8/10 compared to Graham and Parks' 8.6/10 — a 1.2-point delta that represents the largest gap across any measured dimension. On growth, the two schools are nearly identical: Maria L. Baldwin scores 9.9/10 and Graham and Parks scores 9.8/10, a difference of just 0.1 points. This means Graham and Parks is pushing students forward at nearly the same rate as the top-ranked school in the state, even as its absolute achievement level sits somewhat lower.

Both schools serve grades PK–05 and operate at similar scales. Maria L. Baldwin enrolls 352 students; Graham and Parks enrolls 396. Student-teacher ratios are functionally equivalent — 11.0:1 at Maria L. Baldwin and 11.3:1 at Graham and Parks — so neither school offers a meaningfully different classroom-size experience. Families should not expect to find a significant structural difference in access to teachers at either location.

Because both schools share the same grade span, neighborhood proximity, and near-identical growth trajectories, the deciding factor for most families will be that 1.2-point academic score gap. Maria L. Baldwin's #1 statewide ranking reflects a consistent edge in measured student proficiency that Graham and Parks, despite its own top-ten finish, does not fully match.