The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Math. The lowest is 34% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Naramake Elementary School
Naramake Elementary is a neighborhood school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Norwalk, a mixed-use coastal city with a strongly neighborhood-based character. The school sits on King Street and enrolls a school community that is solidly diverse: roughly a third of students are Hispanic, about a third are white, and smaller shares are Black, Asian, or multiracial. About half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is substantially above the state and national averages and reflects the economic circumstances of families in the school's catchment area.
The school is moderate-sized for its grade band, with an enrollment spread across seven grades from pre-K through fifth. This multiage span means the school houses both the early-childhood learning of pre-K and kindergarten and the state-tested academic years of grades three through five, giving families a long potential tenure in a single building.
On Connecticut's Smarter Balanced assessments, Naramake's proficiency rates are below the midpoint for schools in the Western Connecticut Planning Region. In math, proficiency rates across the tested grades (three through five) average in the mid-range, with third grade at about the floor of state proficiency, fourth grade higher, and fifth grade notably lower. In English language arts, third grade proficiency is similar to math, and fifth grade is roughly at two-fifths proficiency. The school's fifth-grade science assessment shows about a third of students meeting proficiency. Overall proficiency across tested subjects sits in the bottom quartile when compared to district schools across the region. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly to understand what support systems are in place for students who are not yet proficient and what instructional priorities the school is pursuing.
The data set includes one year of test results, so trend information is not available. Grade-level variability (third grade lower, fourth grade higher, then fifth grade dipping again) suggests inconsistent mastery progression year to year or cohort differences rather than a clear whole-school trend, but a single year's snapshot does not establish the pattern.
Norwalk School District is in the middle of a long-planned modernization. The district built a brand-new Cranbury Elementary in recent years and opened a new neighborhood South Norwalk PreK-5 school for the 2025-26 school year, restoring a dedicated school to South Norwalk for the first time in many years. A major new high school and P-TECH building is under construction and expected ready by fall 2027. The district also won a substantial federal magnet grant in 2023, concentrating investment in three choice-based magnet schools across elementary, middle, and high school. Norwalk residents can also apply through the Open Choice program to enroll in nearby suburban districts with transportation provided, giving families a real inter-district option.
The broader Norwalk setting is a coastal city undergoing rapid residential growth, particularly in South Norwalk's entertainment and waterfront district. Housing values and rents have climbed sharply even as new apartments have opened; the city estimates that thousands of additional affordable units are needed. Schools are dispersed across neighborhoods rather than concentrated in a center, each anchoring its own area. Parks, beaches, and the Norwalk Public Library serve daily life, and Metro-North service from South Norwalk and East Norwalk stations connects families to New York City in roughly under an hour.
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