The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Science. The lowest is 18% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bellingham High School
Bellingham High School serves students from eighth grade through twelfth grade in a single building, drawing from a town that has transformed rapidly over the past few decades. Once a rural community with no traffic lights until the late nineteen-eighties, Bellingham now has a developed suburban character, with major distribution centers and extensive retail clustered near the interstate corridor. The school sits within this mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial-industrial zones, on the southwestern edge of Metropolitan Boston. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population making up the next largest group, and smaller shares of Asian, Black, multiracial, and Native American students. The enrollment is moderate for a high school serving this grade band.
State assessment results from the most recent testing year show that in English language arts, about a quarter of students scored at the proficient level or above. In math, fewer than one in five students reached that benchmark. Science proficiency was somewhat higher, and on the eighth-grade social studies test, roughly one in five students scored proficient or above. These results place the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects in the bottom quarter relative to other districts in Norfolk County, a county that includes many high-performing suburban systems. This is a clear weakness in the academic picture. A parent considering Bellingham High School will want to understand how the school supports students who are not yet at proficiency, and what the trajectory looks like for those who are.
Looking back over the years for which data is available, proficiency rates in both English and math have declined notably from the levels reported earlier in the two-thousand-tens. In English, the rate stood at nearly half of students proficient in the mid-twenty-tens, dropped to around a third during the pandemic years, and has settled in the low twenties to mid-twenties since. In math, the pattern is sharper: a high of well over half of students proficient in the mid-twenty-tens fell to below a fifth in the most recent year, with a slight recovery in the early twenties followed by a further decline. The trend is downward and consistent across both subjects, which is a substantive concern that a family may wish to discuss with the school administration.
The school serves grades eight through twelve, so it includes eighth graders who are still in middle school age, alongside high school students through senior year. This arrangement means younger students are in the same building as older ones, which some families find beneficial for continuity and others prefer to avoid. The school does not appear to be a charter or magnet school and operates as a regular public school within the Bellingham district.
The district itself has no recent publicly reported changes that would directly affect a parent’s decision, such as a new building project, a boundary shift, or a major program launch. The school’s program offerings are not detailed in the available data, so the range of Advanced Placement courses, career and technical education pathways, or dual-enrollment options is unknown. A family with specific interests in those areas should ask the school directly.
Housing in Bellingham is moderately priced for the Boston region, with home values and rents around the middle to upper range for Massachusetts as a whole. The town’s aggressive commercial development in the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands helped keep the residential tax rate modest, according to public sources. The town is car-dependent, with limited walkability and no direct public transit within its borders, though a commuter rail station is a short drive away. This setting suits families who rely on driving and value a suburban environment with retail and employment nearby, but it may be less convenient for those who want walkable neighborhoods or transit access.
The graduation rate for Bellingham High School was not available in the data provided, so that key measure of student outcomes is a gap. Chronic absenteeism data was also absent. These are common gaps for some schools, and a parent may want to ask the school for its own figures. The school’s civil rights data, such as discipline rates and access to advanced coursework by student subgroup, was not included, so equity-related questions cannot be answered from this account.
For a family weighing Bellingham High School, the picture is one of a school in a community that has grown and changed significantly, serving a student body that is predominantly white and moderately sized. The academic proficiency numbers are low relative to the surrounding county and have been declining over time. The school is worth investigating further, especially around academic support, program availability, and graduation outcomes, before forming a full judgment.
See more original research from School Decision →