Martin Kellogg Middle School, Newington CT

Original Research by School Decision on Martin Kellogg Middle School

Martin Kellogg Middle School in Newington serves students in grades five through eight across a span of four grade levels. The school enrolls a student body of mixed backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances: roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is diverse, with white students making up the largest share, followed by Hispanic students, Asian students, and Black students in smaller numbers. The school draws from Newington, a built-out older suburb about eight miles south of Hartford with a mix of single-family residential neighborhoods and commercial activity concentrated along the Berlin Turnpike.

On state assessments, Martin Kellogg's proficiency shows a pattern of growth from grade to grade. In mathematics, proficiency rises from about one-third of fifth graders to roughly half of eighth graders. English language arts follows a similar climb, starting near half of fifth graders and reaching about three-fifths of eighth graders. Science proficiency in the tested grades (fifth and eighth) falls in the lower-to-middle range. When averaged across all subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among the district's neighbors in Capitol Planning Region.

The grade-to-grade improvement in both core subjects suggests that older students are gaining ground, though starting points are low for a school in a middle-class suburban district. Parents may want to look further into what supports the school offers for younger students entering middle school, and what accounts for the marked improvement by grade eight. The data reflect only one school year, so no trend or direction of change can be determined from these results alone.

The school's test participation rates are very high across subjects, indicating that virtually all enrolled students sit for assessments. This rules out participation gaps as an explanation for proficiency patterns.

Newington School District itself has been undergoing substantial infrastructure work. Voters approved renovation of Anna Reynolds Elementary in 2020 (now completed), and more recently authorized a major rebuild of John Wallace Middle School, the other middle school in the district, with construction underway as of 2025. The district's operating budget has grown substantially in recent years, among the largest increases in roughly two decades, reflecting investment in schools alongside rising property tax pressures for the town.

Martin Kellogg's school size is moderate for its grade band, with total enrollment distributed fairly evenly across the four grades served. The school sits in Newington's residential neighborhoods rather than at a central campus; the town maintains a compact Town Center but operates schools as distributed neighborhood facilities.

The data do not include information on special education enrollment, English learner populations, course offerings, staffing ratios, attendance rates, or discipline climate, so those aspects of the school experience remain unexplained here. The school has no graduation rate, as middle schools do not report that metric. State testing data were the primary assessment results available.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 41% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 38% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 52% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 57% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 51% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 55% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 62% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 56% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 58% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolNewington 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 5Lower-income40%Higher-income57%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income45%Higher-income64%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income42%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income46%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income53%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income64%26 pp gap