I do a lot of special ed consulting and as such see many school districts and am familiar with the culture and resources. cdfox has hit it spot on. Lexington is very competitive and has an excellent program for bright kids (without learning disabilities!), but you need to be cookie cutter. Concord is also high - performing, but the culture is a bit more inclusive and less high powered. Acton Boxboro is also high performing and has a similar, competitive culture to Lexington, but in a more rural setting. I'm less impressed in with Arlington. I am very familiar without the North Shore Schools, and agree that Hamilton/Whenham and Topsfield/Boxford/Middleton are the best on the North Shore, they are much more relaxed than those in the metro west area - and in general test scores are slightly lower. If you are looking north or north east of Boston, I'd also look at Andover (not North Andover).
