Pulaski Middle School, New Britain CT

Original Research by School Decision on Pulaski Middle School

Pulaski Middle School serves the sixth through eighth grades in New Britain, a mid-sized industrial city with a long history of precision manufacturing and now a diverse, economically mixed community. The school's most pressing reality is extremely low proficiency on state assessments. In the most recent year, fewer than one in twenty students scored at the proficient level in math across the three grades served. In English language arts, proficiency rates ranged from just over four percent in sixth grade to around seven percent in eighth grade. Science proficiency, measured only in eighth grade, reached roughly nine percent. These numbers place Pulaski in the bottom quartile of schools across the Capitol Planning Region by overall proficiency index. To be clear about what this means: the vast majority of students are not meeting the state standard on any tested subject or grade level.

The school enrolment is approximately eight-hundred-seventy students, distributed fairly evenly across the three middle grades. The student body is predominantly economically disadvantaged. Close to four-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating persistent economic pressure on families. By race and ethnicity, the school's population is predominantly Hispanic, with substantial representation of Black and white students and smaller Asian and multiracial groups. Specific counts for students receiving special education services or identified as English learners were not available in the data provided, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the scale of those services.

State testing data was available only for the current year, so no year-to-year trend information is available to show whether proficiency rates are moving upward or remaining flat. The school does report that a substantial majority of students were tested in each subject and grade (participation rates in the ninety-five to ninety-seven percent range), so the low proficiency numbers are not explained by high absenteeism from testing.

New Britain School District as a whole has signaled fresh emphasis on literacy, implementing a new reading curriculum in fall 2023 and reporting early gains in reading and math growth in some classrooms on growth assessments. The district also adopted five-year strategic priorities for 2024 through 2029 that include commitments to curriculum updates and greater family involvement in course selection. For middle grades, a parent may find it useful to understand where the school sits within this district context and ask what specific supports and instructional changes are underway at Pulaski itself.

The city of New Britain itself is experiencing transit-oriented revitalization anchored by the CTfastrak bus rapid transit line and downtown Complete Streets improvements. Housing prices in the area have moved upward modestly in recent years. The community has strong civic anchors, including Walnut Hill Park (an Olmsted-designed green space), the New Britain Museum of American Art, and a public library system, as well as major employers in healthcare, education, manufacturing, and services. The school sits at a moment when the city's economy and civic infrastructure are evolving, though individual household economic conditions remain tight for a large share of families whose children attend here.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 62%

School 2% · District 9% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 73%

School 3% · District 9% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 45 pts below county median

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 10% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 13% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Grade 74%

School 4% · District 14% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 51 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 18% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

Science

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 15% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

This schoolNew Britain 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 8Lower-income6%Higher-income13%7 pp gap