The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Math. The lowest is 35% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Douglas Macarthur Elementary School
Douglas MacArthur Elementary School is a regular public school in Waltham, serving kindergarten through fifth grade. Waltham is a mixed-use city with a strong corporate and university presence, home to Brandeis and Bentley Universities and a range of employers from RTX Corporation to local biotech firms. The city has a dense, historic core around Waltham Common, with retail along Main Street and Moody Street, and bike paths along the Charles River. A parent looking at this school should understand it within that setting: an older industrial city that has become a research and education hub, with a mix of long-established neighborhoods and new corporate development along routes into Boston.
The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Asian and Black students. Its enrollment is sizable for an elementary school serving these grades. State testing data from the most recent year shows that in both math and English language arts, approximately half of students scored at the proficient level or above on the NextGen MCAS. This places the school’s overall proficiency below the midpoint when compared with other schools in districts across Middlesex County. In science, a smaller group of test-takers produced a lower proficiency rate, a pattern that families may want to investigate further with the school to understand how the curriculum and instruction align with state expectations in that subject.
Looking at the trend data available, performance in English language arts has held in a fairly steady range over the past several years, with the most recent figure mirroring results from several years ago. Math proficiency has been more variable, rising and falling from year to year, with the most recent result returning to a level similar to the higher end of its recent range. There is no single data point that suggests a clear upward or downward trajectory; rather, the pattern is one of fluctuation around a consistent band. This kind of movement is common in a single-school setting, where a single cohort of students can meaningfully shift a school's average from one year to the next.
No free or reduced-price lunch data were reported for this school, so the economic composition of the student body cannot be described from the available information. Similarly, data on the share of students with disabilities or English learners were not available. Parents who want to understand the school’s support structures for these groups may need to seek that information directly from the school or district.
There is no graduation rate for this school because it does not serve high school grades. No information was available on staffing, class sizes, discipline rates, or chronic absenteeism. The school is not a charter school, and its magnet or Title I status was not reported. A search for recent district-level changes in Waltham turned up little of lasting impact to report, so the broader district context appears stable for now.
The housing market in the area is expensive. Home values in the zip code are well above the national benchmark, and rents are similarly high. For a family considering moving to this attendance zone, the cost of housing is a major factor. The local economy is strong, anchored by universities, major corporate headquarters, and a growing life sciences sector, and the unemployment rate has remained low.
Douglas MacArthur Elementary is a school where a parent will find a solid, mid-range academic profile within an expensive, economically vibrant city. The school’s performance is not among the top tier in its county, but it is not at the bottom either. The variability in math scores from year to year is a detail worth noting, but it does not signal a systemic problem given the small size of each tested grade. For a family that values the broader Waltham community, with its universities, corporate jobs, and historic character, this school offers a reasonable foundation for elementary education. A family with very high academic expectations, or one looking for a school with consistently strong science scores, may want to do additional research to see if the school’s current approach aligns with their priorities.
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