The top reported proficiency rate is 15% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Springfield Public Day Elementary School
Springfield Public Day Elementary School is a small building in the city, serving kindergarten through fifth grade, and to understand what it is, a parent first needs to know that it is not a neighborhood school in the ordinary sense. The school's name, "Public Day," is an old term for a certain kind of place, and the profile in the state data shows it clearly: the school is classified as a regular public school, but the enrollment and the testing results are unlike those at a typical elementary school in the district.
The student body is very small, and the composition is heavily Hispanic, with a substantial Black population and very few white or Asian students. The school is part of the Springfield public school system, which is the largest district in western Massachusetts. Springfield itself is a dense, older industrial city on the Connecticut River, a place with a distinct identity as the birthplace of basketball and the home of MassMutual and the Basketball Hall of Fame. It has seen significant economic revitalization in recent years, including a casino and a redeveloped train station, but it is also a city with deep pockets of poverty.
The state test results at Springfield Public Day Elementary are far below what is typical. In math, English language arts, and science, the proportion of students scoring at the proficient level or above is in the single digits or the low teens. The school sits in the bottom quartile among districts in Hampden County for overall proficiency, which means that among the county's twenty-five districts, this school's academic performance is at the very low end of the range. The trend data over the past several school years shows no sustained improvement; the rates have fluctuated year to year, but they have never risen above a low level. A parent considering this school would want to look into what academic support structures are in place and how the school addresses the gaps.
Because the grade band stops at fifth, there is no graduation rate to report. The school's data does not include information on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, nor does it provide counts of students with Individualized Education Programs or English learner status. That information would be useful for understanding the intensity of the student needs served here.
The district brief turned up no recent major changes or strategic initiatives reported publicly for Springfield Public Day Elementary in particular. The housing market around the school, based on the wider Springfield area, shows home values that are modest compared to the state average, and the market is fairly active.
What this school offers is a very small environment for elementary-aged students, in a city setting, within a large district. The academic performance on state tests is low, and has been low for years. A parent evaluating this school would want to learn directly from the school and district what the program of instruction looks like, how the small enrollment is used to individualize learning, and what the school's plan is for raising student outcomes. The data does not describe the school day, the curriculum, or the staff; what the numbers show is a place where the standard academic benchmarks are not being met for most students.
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