The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 32% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster is one of five elementary schools in the Marshfield public school system, serving students from pre-kindergarten through grade five. Located on Ocean Street, it sits within a coastal South Shore town of roughly a couple dozen thousand year-round residents, a number that swells noticeably in the summer months when seasonal populations arrive for the public beaches that line Massachusetts Bay. Marshfield is an affluent community with a traditional New England character, and its elementary schools are spread across the town’s several villages rather than gathered on a single campus. Daniel Webster itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet institution.
The student body at Daniel Webster is overwhelmingly white, with small representations of Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. The school’s enrollment is moderate for its grade band and is balanced across the elementary grades. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is not available in the record, and the same is true for the share of students with individualized education programs or English learner status. A parent looking for a fuller picture of the school’s socioeconomic and special-education composition would need to ask the school or district directly.
On state assessments, Daniel Webster’s results present a mixed picture. In math, the school’s proficiency rate places it just slightly below the typical level among Plymouth County elementary schools, which means a parent should view the math performance as roughly in line with what is common across the county. English language arts proficiency, however, is notably lower, and that subject is the softer spot. Science results are lower still, though science is tested only at one grade level in this band, so the number of students assessed is smaller and the figure is less broadly representative. The school’s participation rate on these tests was full, meaning nearly every enrolled student took them.
Looking back over the past several years, the trend lines show a clear pattern. In the years immediately before the pandemic, Daniel Webster’s proficiency rates in both math and ELA were higher than they are now, with ELA particularly strong. The pandemic-era data show a drop, and the school has not returned to those earlier levels. In math, the rate has held fairly steady at around the same mark for the past several academic years, showing neither recovery nor further decline. In ELA, the rate has drifted lower over that same period. This is a trajectory a parent would want to discuss with the school to understand what instructional shifts or supports are in place.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. The school environment data in the record does not include information on discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance, so those dimensions are not part of this account. The record also does not contain program offerings or details about any specialized pathways. The district brief turned up no recent major changes, such as a building project or a restructuring, that would affect a family considering this school.
The housing market in the area carries a high cost of entry. Home values are well above the national benchmark, and rents are at a level that would consume a substantial share of a typical household income. The mortgage burden relative to income is high, a reality that matters for any family weighing a move into the district.
This is a school that fits a family looking for a traditional neighborhood elementary experience in an affluent coastal community. The student body is not highly diverse. The academic picture is one where the school’s math results land around the middle of the pack for the county, while ELA and science show more ground to cover and a trend that has not yet turned upward. A parent considering Daniel Webster should plan to ask about the specific strategies the school is using to improve reading and writing outcomes, particularly for the grades that are below the levels the school achieved in the years before the pandemic.
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