Luis Munoz Marin School, Bridgeport CT

Original Research by School Decision on Luis Munoz Marin School

Luis Munoz Marin School serves pre-K through grade 8 in Bridgeport, a mid-sized coastal city shaped by distinct neighborhoods, waterfront development, and a diverse population with strong Hispanic, African American, and Italian roots. The school's student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions of the neighborhoods it draws from.

The school's academic performance presents significant challenges. In math, proficiency rates among tested grades are very low, ranging from just a few percentage points in grades 5 and 6 to roughly a tenth in grades 7 and 8. Reading and language arts show similarly weak results across tested grades, with proficiency rates in the single digits to low double digits. Science proficiency at grade 5 is also quite low. The school's overall proficiency index across subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile among districts in the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region. State testing data was available for grades 3 through 8; pre-K through grade 2 are not assessed statewide, so no proficiency measures exist for those grades.

The school enrolls roughly seven hundred students spread across its grade bands. Early childhood and early elementary grades are smaller, while grades 5 through 8 are larger, with the highest enrollment in grade 8. A substantial share of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to high economic need.

Any parent or resident considering this school should look further into what academic supports and interventions the school has in place to address these proficiency gaps. The school operates within the Bridgeport School District, which has faced serious institutional challenges. In January 2025, the state authorized formal intervention in the district due to budget deficits, failures in special education service delivery, and leadership instability. That intervention deployed a technical assistance team and gave the state commissioner approval authority over superintendent hires. In April 2025, the district approved significant cuts, including the elimination of teaching positions, busing for substantial numbers of students, and the removal of all district librarians. The district also adopted new curricula for multiple subjects in the 2024–25 school year, including a scripted English language arts program with tight pacing mandates that shifts how classroom instruction is delivered.

These district-level conditions mean that families should have direct conversations with school leadership about how the school itself is responding to budget constraints, what supplemental tutoring or intervention programs exist for struggling students, and how the new curricula and staffing changes have affected day-to-day instruction. The gap between assessed proficiency and what families expect their children to achieve is substantial enough that understanding the school's specific strategy for closing it is essential.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 53%

School 3% · District 11% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 64%

School 4% · District 15% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 18% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 18% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 21% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 26% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 26% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 20% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

This schoolBridgeport School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.