The top reported proficiency rate is 45% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Shawsheen Elementary
Shawsheen Elementary is a regular public school in Wilmington, Massachusetts that serves grades one through three. Because it covers only early elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the academic testing data that is available comes solely from third graders, the only grade in this band that participates in statewide assessments. That testing is a snapshot, not a measure of the full school experience, but it is the primary public gauge of academic performance at the school.
The school sits in a suburban town that has grown substantially since the mid-20th century and now mixes residential neighborhoods with a notable commercial and industrial presence. Several large companies are headquartered in Wilmington, and the town provides highway access and commuter rail service to Boston. Housing is expensive; the town has been described as among the more affordable suburbs in Massachusetts relative to others in the region, though that still places it well above national averages. The town’s elementary schools are spread across separate campuses, and Shawsheen is one of several buildings handling grades one through three within the Wilmington district.
On the most recent state testing, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts were in the mid-forties percent. That overall proficiency index places Shawsheen below the midpoint when compared with other districts across Middlesex County, a large and varied county that includes many high-performing suburban systems. A parent reading these results should note that the comparison is at the district level, not school level, and that Shawsheen’s scores reflect only one grade. Still, the numbers suggest that typical third-grade performance here is somewhat lower than what many nearby districts achieve.
Looking at multi-year trends, math and ELA proficiency rates have moved up and down. For ELA, the school saw a high in the mid-sixties percent a few years ago, but the most recent results are lower, continuing a gradual decline from that peak. Math showed a similar pattern, with rates in the high fifties and low sixties in earlier years before dropping more recently. These swings are not unusual for a small grade cohort, but the direction in the most recent year is worth noting. The school participated fully in testing, so the results reflect nearly all students.
Demographically, Shawsheen’s enrollment is majority white, with smaller shares of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education, and English learner status was not available in the provided records. That is a notable gap. A family trying to understand the level of economic diversity or the resources available for students with disabilities or language needs would want to ask the district or school directly. The same is true for chronic absenteeism, a metric that was not reported for this school.
The Wilmington district itself appears stable. No recent curriculum changes, referendums, or major property-tax shifts were identified in publicly available materials, so a parent moving into the area can likely expect continuity in how the elementary schools operate.
For whom does Shawsheen fit, based on what is known? It is a straightforward neighborhood elementary school serving the earliest grades in a town with a solid employment base, good transit access, and expensive housing. The academic scores are moderate relative to the county, and the school does not have standout program offerings or special designations like magnet or Title I status (that information was absent). A family focused on early elementary years in a suburban setting with a standard curriculum will find Shawsheen familiar in structure. Parents who place a high priority on top-quartile test scores among local options may want to look further into how the Wilmington district supports learning growth across the later elementary and middle grades, since the third-grade results here are just one point in a longer arc.
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