The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in Science. The lowest is 36% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Johnson
Johnson Elementary is the only school in Nahant, a small coastal town in Essex County that sits on a narrow peninsula connected to the mainland by a single causeway. The town is compact, residential, and expensive, with a housing market that reflects its desirability as a coastal community. Civic life centers on a small-town core, and the Northeastern University Marine Science Center is a notable local institution. The district itself is minimal: Nahant operates a single elementary school and tuitions its older students to Swampscott for grades that Johnson does not serve. No recent curriculum, financial, or policy changes with lasting parent impact were publicly reported.
Johnson serves prekindergarten through fifth grade and is a regular public school. Its enrollment is small for a school covering that grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a modest Hispanic share, and very small numbers of Asian and multiracial students. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch was not reported, nor were figures on special education identification or English learner status. A parent looking for that information may want to ask the school directly.
State testing results from the 2024-25 school year show that overall proficiency across tested subjects, when compared relative to districts in Essex County, fell below the midpoint of the cohort. Performance in English language arts and math each landed in a similar range, while science proficiency, based on a much smaller tested group, was higher. The school's participation rate on tests was strong. Looking back over available years, proficiency rates in both math and ELA have moved around: results in some earlier years were higher than the most recent, while others were lower. There is no clear single trajectory, but the most recent results are on the lower end of what the school has historically posted. A family evaluating this school should weigh the most recent test data alongside the fact that the tested group is small, so year-to-year shifts can reflect the performance of a relatively small number of students.
Because Johnson ends at fifth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report and no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline at this school. Course access information and program offerings were also not available in this data set. The district brief notes that Nahant tuitions its secondary students to Swampscott, so a family with younger children will need to plan for that transition when the time comes.
The housing context in Nahant is notable. Homes are expensive relative to the national market, and the town's small geography and coastal location mean supply is inherently limited. For a parent considering a move, this is a constrained, high-cost market that tends to attract families who value a tight-knit, walkable community and are comfortable with a single elementary school feeding into a neighboring district for later grades.
Johnson is the kind of school where a parent can know every teacher and the principal knows every child by name. That intimacy comes with the small enrollment and the single-school district structure. The academic picture is mixed on the most recent state measures, and the school's size means that a single cohort can shift results noticeably. For a family that prioritizes a small, community-anchored elementary experience in an affluent coastal town and is already thinking ahead to the transition to Swampscott for middle and high school, this is a straightforward choice to evaluate. For a family looking for a school with a wide range of internal programs or extensive data on student support services, the gaps in this profile are worth following up on directly with the school.
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