The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in Math. The lowest is 72% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Julian Curtiss School
Julian Curtiss School is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Greenwich, Connecticut, a prosperous residential suburb of New York City known for its financial industry, waterfront, and stable middle-to-upper-income neighborhoods. The school enrolls a student body that is economically and racially diverse compared to its affluent town context: a substantial share of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the population is distributed across white, Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial backgrounds, with no single group forming a majority.
The school's academic performance shows uneven patterns across grades and subjects. In third grade, mathematics proficiency is strong, while English language arts sits below that mark. By fourth grade, ELA performance rises, though mathematics data for that grade was suppressed in the state report. Fifth grade tells a different story: ELA proficiency is solid, but mathematics proficiency drops noticeably, and science proficiency data was suppressed. Across all grades combined, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint for districts in its county region, a positioning that reflects modest strength without reaching the top tier. The school uses Connecticut's Smarter Balanced Assessment for math and ELA in grades three through five and the NGSS assessment for fifth-grade science; all tested students participated in assessments.
The enrollment is small for its grade span, which creates both intimacy and limited economies of scale. Prekindergarten and kindergarten serve younger learners who do not sit for state assessments, and this early-grades population makes up a portion of the total enrollment. The missing data on special education and English learner enrollment suggests either that these populations are very small or that the school has not publicly reported those figures; a parent might want to look into the school's capacity and services for students with disabilities or language support needs.
Greenwich itself is a town of distinct neighborhoods ranging from the walkable downtown core around Greenwich Avenue to more car-dependent residential areas and rural back-country estates. Housing values are very high, reflecting the town's status as a major financial center and affluent suburb; median home prices and rental costs far exceed state and national benchmarks, and a parent evaluating this school would be doing so in the context of one of Connecticut's most expensive real estate markets. The town has four commuter rail stations with express service to Manhattan, a substantial park system including coastal access, and a strong library network.
The district is navigating significant changes. A new Central Middle School is under construction to replace an aging building, due to open for the 2026-2027 school year. Connecticut's Right to Read law, effective in 2025, requires the district to adopt a Science of Reading-aligned curriculum for kindergarten through third grade, a shift that directly affects how Julian Curtiss's youngest students are taught to read. The district also faced a budget cut in 2025 that prompted consideration of shifting school start times across the system to find savings, a potential change that would affect family schedules. These shifts suggest a district managing both long-term facility renewal and near-term financial pressure.
A parent considering Julian Curtiss would find a neighborhood elementary school in an affluent, well-resourced town, with academic performance that is above average for its region but shows variability by grade, serving a student body more economically and racially diverse than the town's reputation might suggest. The school sits in a housing market beyond reach for many families, and would fit families with strong ties to Greenwich or the capacity for the financial commitment the area requires.
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