Updated: Marblehead Schools Rank 40th in Greater Boston

The latest issue of Boston magazine ranks Marblehead's schools 40th among the 147 best schools in Greater Boston in 2013.

The magazine's rankings are eagerly anticipated, and not just by those who work for schools. To read the entire article, go to their website.

The magazine drew on recent data by consulting the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and, in some cases, culled information from town and school district websites, according to the magazine.

The ranking places Marblehead just below Hingham and Northborough and just ahead of Littleton and Medway.

Rankings closer to home: Swampscott 66th, Salem 133rd, Peabody 123rd  and Lynn 144th.

The top ranked school district was Dover and the lowest ranked district was Lawrence.

The magazine arrived at its rankings through the work of a team of researchers and a statistician — George Recck, director of the Math Resource Center at Babson.

The rankings took into account variables including test scores, per pupil spending, student-to-teacher ratios, number of Adavance Placement classes, graduation rate, and percent of students who go on to college.

Janelle Nanos, senior editor of Boston magazine, said "five statistical categories were added for 2013 and slight changes were made also made to the categories, which could also contribute to the change in rankings."

Marblehead ranked 24th the last time the magazine ranked more than just high schools. In 2011, the magazine took into account data from middle and high schools.

It calculated just best Boston area high schools in 2012.

We were told by the magazine editor that in 2013, "for the first time in several years, Boston magazine incorporated educational data from local elementary and middle schools in the rankings."