The top reported proficiency rate is 12% in English language arts. The lowest is 4% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Morgan Full Service Community School
Morgan Full Service Community School is one of Holyoke’s elementary schools, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a regular public school within the Holyoke Public Schools district, which has been under state receivership for a number of years and is classified as requiring assistance or intervention. That governance reality is the backdrop against which every school in the district operates. The district’s revenue comes overwhelmingly from state sources, with a very small share from local property taxes, meaning state funding decisions have an outsized influence on what the schools can offer.
The school’s enrollment is relatively modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with small shares of White and Black students and a very small share of students who identify as two or more races. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners was not available, which is a gap a parent may want to ask the school about directly.
State test results place the school in a difficult position. On the NextGen MCAS assessments, the share of students scoring proficient or above in English language arts was low. The share in math was very low, and the share in science was similarly very low. Participation rates on the tests were high, so the results reflect a near-complete picture of the tested students. A trend lookback over several years shows that ELA proficiency has moved within a narrow low band, never rising above a modest level, and math proficiency has remained in the very low range throughout that period. On a comparison of overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Hampden County. These are plainly weak numbers. A parent ought to look into what academic supports and interventions the school provides, what the daily instructional experience looks like, and how the school is working to improve outcomes.
Because the school serves only through fifth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report. There is also no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or course access. A family considering this school would want to understand the learning environment and climate from visits and conversations with staff, as those dimensions are not captured in the available record.
Holyoke itself is a small industrial city with a historic downtown laid out on a rectilinear grid, built around the Holyoke Canal System and the paper industry. The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, an intercollegiate research facility, is a notable newer anchor. The city has a Heritage State Park and the Canalwalk for pedestrian access downtown. Population peaked many decades ago and has declined since, though recent estimates suggest relative stability. The housing market in the area, based on county-level data, shows a median listing price that is below the state benchmark, and a mix of market activity that includes a moderate number of active listings and a low median days on market.
This is a school with very low state test results in a district under state receivership. A parent considering Morgan Full Service Community School would want to press hard on the specific academic support structures in place, the nature of the full-service community school model in practice, and what steps are being taken to raise student achievement. The school’s small size and the fact that it serves only early and elementary grades mean the peer environment and daily experience will be shaped heavily by the classroom teacher and the school’s specific programs, which are not detailed in the available data.
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