The top reported proficiency rate is 20% in Science. The lowest is 17% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Alfred J Gomes
Alfred J Gomes is a regular public elementary school in New Bedford, Massachusetts, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits within the New Bedford public school district, a system that has seen declining enrollment in recent years and has adopted a new strategic plan for 2024 through 2027 that prioritizes early childhood education, literacy, college and career readiness, and family engagement. The district also approved a budget increase for fiscal year 2025 with targeted investments in curriculum, technology, and social-emotional learning. Potential school facility consolidation is an active topic of discussion, which could affect attendance boundaries or class sizes in the future.
New Bedford itself is a densely populated, historically industrial port city. Its commercial fishing port is the highest-grossing in the nation, and a large Portuguese-American community shapes the city's cultural identity. The downtown area and waterfront form a dense, walkable core with cultural anchors like the Whaling National Historical Park and the Whaling Museum. The offshore wind industry is an emerging economic sector. Housing in the city's ZIP code is priced at a level that is less expensive than the statewide benchmark, and rents have risen. For a family considering this area, the city offers a distinctive industrial and cultural character, but the housing market has seen active demand.
As an elementary school, Gomes has no graduation rate to report, since its students move on to other schools before that milestone. Its results on Massachusetts state assessments (the Next-Generation MCAS) are a central piece of information for families. For the most recent testing year, the school's proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science all fell below the midpoint among districts in Bristol County. Looked at over time, the school's proficiency rates have fluctuated. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above was higher in years prior to the pandemic than it has been in the most recent several years. Math shows a similar pattern, with the current rate lower than its pre-2019 levels. A parent should consider these performance numbers directly and may want to discuss with the school what academic supports are in place and how the school is working to improve student outcomes.
The student body at Gomes is diverse. The largest group of students is Hispanic, followed by smaller shares who are Black, white, and from two or more races. The school enrolls a sizable number of students. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, on students with disabilities, and on English learners was not available in the record we reviewed, so a complete picture of the school's economic and learning-support profile is incomplete.
The school operates as a regular public school and is not a charter or magnet school. Information on whether it receives Title I funding was not available. The school's environment and access data, including discipline rates, course access, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism, were also absent from this record. These are significant gaps for a family trying to understand daily conditions in the building. A parent may wish to ask the school or district directly for the most recent data on class sizes, teacher experience, and student behavior.
Gomes serves a central role in its neighborhood as an early-grades public school. For a family whose priority is a diverse, urban elementary school within a larger district that is actively planning for its future, Gomes presents a concrete option, but one where the recent academic results and the missing pieces of the support-services profile warrant direct inquiry. The city of New Bedford provides a rich civic and cultural environment, though the district's enrollment decline and facility discussions mean the physical landscape of its schools may shift in the years ahead.
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