The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in Science. The lowest is 21% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Staff Sargent James J. Hill Elementary School
Staff Sargent James J. Hill Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Revere, a densely populated urban city located a short distance northeast of downtown Boston. It is a regular public school within Revere Public Schools, a district that has recently made sizeable facility investments and, according to publicly reported plans, aims to repurpose a municipal building to double its preschool capacity. The school is named for a local service member who was killed in action.
Revere itself is a city of notable growth and diversity. It was the fastest-growing municipality in Massachusetts following the 2020 census, driven in part by the revitalization of Revere Beach, the oldest public beach in the United States, which has seen new high-rise housing and restored public amenities along its boulevard. The city is connected to Boston by the MBTA Blue Line, which has three stations in Revere, and is crossed by multiple major highways. The population is diverse, with a substantial Hispanic or Latino share alongside a White population and smaller shares of other groups. The city's largest employers are in retail, healthcare, and logistics.
The student body at Hill Elementary reflects that diversity. The enrollment is substantial for an elementary school serving these grade levels. The largest group of students identifies as Hispanic, followed by White students, with smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch was not available in the sources reviewed, nor were counts of students with individualized education programs or English learner designations, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these dimensions of student support.
On the most recent state assessments, the NextGen MCAS, a little less than one-third of students met or exceeded the state's proficiency bar in mathematics. In English language arts, about one in five students reached proficiency. Science, which is tested only at grade five in elementary school, saw a higher rate, with roughly two in five students scoring proficient or above. These are challenging results, particularly in reading, where fewer than a quarter of students are meeting the state's proficiency standard. The longer view shows that the school's performance has declined notably from where it stood before the pandemic. In the years prior to 2020, both math and English proficiency rates were substantially higher. They dropped sharply during the 2020-21 school year and have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Math has shown a slow, steady upward crawl in the years since, while English results have remained low and relatively flat. A parent considering this school may want to explore what literacy interventions and supports are in place and how the school is addressing this pattern.
When measured against schools in districts across Suffolk County, Hill Elementary's combined proficiency across tested subjects and grade levels falls in the top quartile of that set. This may seem at odds with the raw proficiency rates, but it reflects the fact that many schools in the county serve similarly high-need populations and face comparable challenges. Within that countywide context, the school is performing relatively well.
Because the school serves only kindergarten through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. It is an elementary feeder, so parents will eventually look to the middle and high school options within Revere Public Schools. The district's planned preschool expansion and recent capital construction expenditures point to investments in the broader educational pipeline, though the data to confirm outcomes from those investments is not yet available. For a parent weighing this school, the picture is an urban elementary school in a fast-growing, diverse city, where the academic numbers give reason to ask questions about instruction and support, particularly in literacy, while the school's standing among its county peers suggests it is performing comparably to or ahead of many similar schools in the region.
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