The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Science. The lowest is 41% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Squantum
Squantum is an elementary school in Quincy, a dense, primarily urban city and the largest in Norfolk County, that functions as one of Boston’s immediate southern suburbs. The school serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the Quincy Public Schools district. It is a regular public school with no charter or magnet status.
The neighborhood of Squantum itself is a peninsula on Quincy Bay, giving the school a distinct sense of place within the larger city. Quincy blends residential neighborhoods with commercial nodes, especially around Quincy Center, and has a strong immigrant community alongside a mix of working-class and professional households. The city is relatively walkable near its MBTA Red Line stations, which provide direct subway access to downtown Boston, and it is undergoing significant growth centered on a major downtown revitalization project. Many families are drawn to Quincy for its housing stock and Boston connections.
Squantum has a moderate enrollment for an elementary school in the area. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. White students make up the largest share of the population, followed by a substantial Asian student population. Smaller groups of students who identify as Hispanic, Black, two or more races, or American Indian or Alaska Native are also represented. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, those with Individualized Education Programs, and those identified as English learners was not available in the profile.
On the most recent state assessments, the NextGen MCAS, Squantum’s overall proficiency across tested subjects placed it below the midpoint relative to districts in Norfolk County. A parent will want to look closely at the performance context. In English language arts, just under half of students scored at the proficient or above level. In mathematics, the proficiency rate was similar. In science, which is tested only in a single grade within this band, half of students reached proficiency. These results represent a notable shift from the school’s earlier performance. Looking at the multi-year trend data available, the school’s ELA proficiency was in the range of roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of students from the 2016-17 school year through 2018-19. It dropped sharply, as many schools did, and has not returned to that earlier level. The most recent year’s result is the lowest in the available trend. In math, the pattern is similar: proficiency was near the half to three-fifths mark in the pre-pandemic years, and the most recent two measurements are the lowest in that series. This trend is important context for any family evaluating the school.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism was not available. This is a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade building; the academic picture is focused entirely on those early and upper elementary years.
Squantum is a neighborhood school in a city that offers extensive civic anchors—the Thomas Crane Public Library, Wollaston Beach, the Blue Hills Reservation, Adams National Historical Park—and direct transit to Boston. For a family whose priority is a diverse, urban elementary school within a strong regional economy, Squantum provides a clear setting. The test score trend, with proficiency rates that have declined across both ELA and math from pre-pandemic levels, is a soft spot that a parent may want to investigate further with the school and district, particularly to understand current classroom supports and any initiatives to address the trend. The Quincy district brief did not return information on recent district-wide changes or strategic priorities, so that is a gap rather than a statement about the school’s direction.
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