Barnum School, Bridgeport CT - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Barnum School

Barnum School is a small pre-K through 8th grade school in Bridgeport serving a community that is economically stretched and deeply affected by the district's ongoing fiscal crisis. The school's enrollment sits at around six hundred students, with a majority who are Hispanic and Black. Nearly all students come from low-income households and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the number of English learners or students receiving special education services was not available.

The school's academic results, measured by state assessments in math, English language arts, and science, show proficiency rates that are low across tested grade levels. In math, proficiency ranges from around five percent in grade 7 to around twenty percent in grades 3 and 6. In English language arts, the range is similar, with proficiency under ten percent in grade 5 but reaching over twenty percent in grade 6. Science results for grade 8 show about nineteen percent proficiency; a grade 5 science result was suppressed by the state and is not available. When averaging across subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index is in the bottom quartile among the other districts in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region. The school participates fully in state testing, with near-complete participation rates across all grades and subjects.

Understanding these results requires context. Barnum is operating under extraordinary strain. The Bridgeport School District has been in fiscal crisis for over a year, with a deficit tied to the end of federal COVID relief funds, flat city resources, and rising special education costs. In April 2025, the board eliminated twenty teaching positions, kindergarten paraprofessionals, busing for a large number of students, a performing arts program, and all district librarians. In January 2025, the Connecticut State Board of Education authorized state intervention in the district after finding that special education services were failing to reach hundreds of students and the district faced leadership instability. A technical assistance team was deployed to oversee finance and special education improvements, and the state now must approve any permanent superintendent hire.

At the classroom level, the district has also adopted new, tightly scripted curricula across multiple subjects starting in 2024–25, particularly in English language arts for grades 6–12 and a Discovery Education science curriculum. Teachers are required to follow daily scripts with strict pacing guides and minimal flexibility, a significant shift from prior practice. This combination of resource cuts and curriculum mandates sets the conditions in which Barnum operates.

Bridgeport itself is a mid-sized, densely built coastal city in active redevelopment. The waterfront is seeing large mixed-use projects like Steelpointe Harbor, which is adding market-rate and some affordable housing. Downtown has converted old industrial buildings into loft apartments and event spaces. The city has defined neighborhoods with distinct character: a low-income downtown, the tree-lined residential enclaves of the North End and Brooklawn, the waterfront Black Rock neighborhood with dining and arts venues, and dense multifamily areas like The Hollow. Overall walkability is modest, though downtown and some commercial corridors have better street life. Health care, utilities, and higher education are the largest employment sectors. Housing values in the 06608 zip code are modest, and rents are rising modestly. A parent considering this school should be aware of both the academic challenges reflected in test results and the district-wide operational pressures that constrain what schools like Barnum can offer. A parent may want to explore with the school itself what instructional supports, tutoring, and enrichment it is still able to provide, and what its enrollment trajectory and plans are in the face of these budget constraints.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 318%

School 18% · District 18%

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

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 14% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 15% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 76%

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

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 18% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 17% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 19% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 26% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Science

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 23% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 6 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.