The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 73% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Richard D. Hubbard School
Richard D. Hubbard School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in East Berlin, Connecticut, a quiet residential section within the town of Berlin. The school sits on Grove Street in a low-density, owner-occupied neighborhood where Polish heritage is strong and the character is suburban-to-rural. Housing in the area is predominantly single-family homes on larger lots; the neighborhood itself is car-oriented with few sidewalks, though streets are quiet enough for children to play outside. The school draws students from a community experiencing steady residential growth, with new single-family construction and a wave of multifamily apartment projects underway across the broader town.
The school enrolls a small cohort of students, with grades split across multiple classrooms; kindergarten through fifth grade together form roughly the size of a single elementary building. About one-third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, and Black students; data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available. Students attend here through fifth grade, then move to McGee Middle School and later Berlin High School elsewhere in the town.
In academic performance, Hubbard shows solid grounding in tested subjects. On state math and English language arts assessments, third and fifth graders showed proficiency rates in the mid-to-upper 70s; proficiency data for fourth graders in both subjects and fifth graders in science was suppressed for privacy reasons, though average scale scores suggest comparable performance. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the Capitol Planning Region's districts. The school participates fully in state testing; no participation gaps were reported.
One note: families considering the district should be aware that Berlin has rejected both town and school budgets at referendum multiple times in recent fiscal years. Under the town charter, if voters reject a budget at two consecutive referendums in a single fiscal year, budget authority and mill-rate setting revert entirely to the Town Council, meaning voters can lose direct say over school spending. This is an established pattern rather than a one-time event, and it shapes how school funding certainty works in this community. A parent may want to ask the district directly how recent budget cycles have affected school staffing, supplies, or program stability, and understand how the town's fiscal process works before making a move.
Housing in the school's zip code, 06023, is valued in the mid-range for the state, and the area is experiencing strong demand with a notably tight rental vacancy rate. The nearest hospital is a short drive away; the town's rail transit hub on the Hartford Line is located in the separate Kensington neighborhood downtown, not in East Berlin itself. Civic life in the immediate area centers on neighborhood parks and school grounds; the town library and main community center are also located elsewhere in Berlin.
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