The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Breed Middle School
Breed Middle School serves grades six through eight in Lynn, a densely populated urban city that is part of Greater Boston’s inner core. This is a large regular public school, one of the district’s several middle schools, and its enrollment reflects the broader city it serves. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of white, Asian, and Black students; two or more races and Native American students make up smaller proportions. This composition is a plain characteristic of the community, and a family considering the school will find a peer environment that is diverse in ways that mirror Lynn’s immigrant-rich population and working-class base.
The most direct picture of academic performance comes from the state’s NextGen MCAS assessments. Across all tested subjects, proficiency rates are weak. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above is very low. In English language arts, the share is modestly higher but still low. In science, and in the eighth-grade social studies test, proficiency rates are similarly weak. These results place the school’s overall performance, across all tested subjects and grades, in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Essex County and well below the midpoint of the county’s districts. This is not a school where most students are meeting state benchmarks, and a parent looking at these numbers should treat them as a starting point for conversation with the school about academic supports and intervention.
The trend data, though it shows only a single point per year for the years available, reveals a pattern that is worth understanding. Before the pandemic, the school’s proficiency rates in English language arts and math were higher than they are now, though still not at high levels. After the pandemic, rates dropped further, and in recent years they have remained at low levels without a clear recovery. Math proficiency, in particular, has been especially low in recent years. The school’s participation rates on tests are very high, so the results reflect nearly the entire enrolled population.
The data does not include a graduation rate for this school, which is expected for a middle school that serves no high school grades. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data and special education and English learner counts were not available in the data provided, so a fuller picture of the share of students experiencing poverty or receiving specialized instruction is missing.
On the district level, Lynn Public Schools has been undergoing notable changes. One middle school was closed due to declining enrollment and facility costs, with students reassigned to other middle schools, a change that could shift attendance boundaries and affect which families attend Breed. The district has also expanded its dual-language program, received Early College Promise and career pathway designations, and landed a major federal literacy grant. For middle school families, these district-wide investments in literacy and college pathways could eventually influence how students are prepared at the middle school level, but the data on hand does not provide direct evidence of that impact yet at Breed.
The housing market in the area around the school, based on the ZIP-level home value index, shows a market with moderate values relative to the broader state, and a rent index that places it as more affordable than many of the pricier parts of the region. Lynn itself is a city with a historic downtown, a cultural district, and ongoing growth pressure as part of Greater Boston’s urban core. For a family weighing this school, the academic performance numbers are the central concern. The school serves a very large number of students, and the test results indicate that a substantial majority are not yet reaching the proficient level. A parent considering Breed should seek direct information from the school about how it is addressing those low scores, what interventions are in place, and what the pathway looks like for students who need additional support.
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