The top reported proficiency rate is 73% in Math. The lowest is 61% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Edith E. Mackrille School
Edith E. Mackrille School serves pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in West Haven, a coastal city organized around a town green and shoreline, home to the University of New Haven and Yale's West Campus. The school enrolls a student body that is racially and economically diverse. White students make up just under half the enrollment; Hispanic and Black students together comprise roughly half; and Asian students represent a smaller share. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of many families in the neighborhood.
The school's test results show solid math performance. Fourth-grade students score above the school's third-grade cohort in mathematics, with three-quarters meeting or exceeding proficiency. Third-grade math proficiency is somewhat lower, in the low-to-mid 70s. English language arts results are more mixed. Fourth-grade ELA proficiency sits in the low 60s, while third-grade ELA data was suppressed by the state, likely due to small subgroup sizes. Across both grades, the school tested nearly all eligible students, indicating strong participation. Taken together, math appears to be a relative strength, while literacy proficiency, particularly in fourth grade, may be an area a parent would want to discuss with the school regarding support and instructional approaches. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among schools in the South Central Connecticut Planning Region, a positioning that reflects the math performance offset somewhat by the lower ELA numbers.
The school sits within West Haven School District, which has recently undergone significant change. The district was under state financial oversight due to a deficit and a scandal involving stolen COVID-relief funds, but in May 2025 the state Municipal Accountability Review Board voted to end that oversight after the district improved its bond rating and adopted a board-approved financial plan. This return to local fiscal control is a concrete shift in stability that families in the district can count on going forward. The district has also invested in physical plant: Washington Elementary School, a fully rebuilt pre-K through 4 facility, opened in August 2025 with air conditioning, accessibility features, modern technology systems, and a new playground. Mackrille is a different campus and was not rebuilt, but the investment across the district signals ongoing attention to school facilities.
West Haven as a place is in the midst of active redevelopment. The downtown is compact and walkable around the historic town green, and the shoreline has become a focus of investment with a new restaurant, a large Beach Street restoration, and housing conversions from former school buildings. The Metro-North commuter rail station, which opened in the past decade, connects the city to New Haven and the broader region. Housing values in the area have appreciated modestly in recent years. The city has adopted development-friendly zoning and created tax incentives for business, signaling a growth trajectory that likely means incremental neighborhood change.
On literacy instruction, Connecticut's state Right to Read law requires all districts, including West Haven, to teach kindergarten through third grade using science-based reading methods that emphasize phonics and foundational decoding. This is now the mandated approach across the state, and West Haven received grant funding to implement it. This pedagogy shift is relevant for families thinking about how the youngest students in the school learn to read.
The school serves a neighborhood clientele in a district with modest enrollment. A parent evaluating Mackrille would find a school with evident strength in mathematics, somewhat softer results in early literacy, and a district that has recently stabilized financially and invested in new facilities elsewhere. The school's diversity and economic mix reflect West Haven's character as a mixed-income, multiethnic community with institutional anchors and active reinvestment underway.
See more original research from School Decision →