The top reported proficiency rate is 15% in English language arts. The lowest is 11% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Chandler Magnet
Chandler Magnet is an elementary school in the Worcester public school system, serving students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. In the 2024-25 school year, just over one in seven students scored at the proficient level or above in math and in English language arts on the state’s NextGen MCAS assessments. In science, the share of students reaching proficiency was slightly lower. These results place the school’s overall academic performance in the bottom quarter of all schools in Worcester County for which data was available.
This pattern is not new. Over the eight school years with reported results prior to 2024-25, reading proficiency has ranged between roughly one in seven and one in five students. Math proficiency has been similarly low and somewhat more variable, with a high of just over one in four students scoring proficient in 2023-24 and a low close to one in ten. A parent or guardian considering Chandler Magnet should be aware that the school serves a student body where the vast majority of children are from families that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common indicator of economic need. The school is also a dual-language magnet, though the data does not describe how this program operates or what share of students participate.
Worcester is a mid-sized city that has seen a reversal of long-term population decline, driven by growth in higher education, healthcare, and biotechnology. The city’s housing market reflects this broader regional demand. Home values in the area around the school have risen over the past year, and rents have increased more sharply. For families seeking to rent, the cost now claims a sizable share of a typical household income. Buying a home in the area is expensive relative to national benchmarks, though the city markets itself as more affordable than the Boston core. School system leaders have adopted a new district-wide elementary literacy curriculum that shifts away from balanced literacy toward structured literacy with explicit phonics instruction, a change that began in the 2023-24 school year. The district also approved a three-year strategic plan in early 2024 with pillars focused on teaching and learning, student well-being, social-emotional learning, and family engagement. A long-term facilities plan, valued in the hundreds of millions, has been outlined to address aging school buildings, though funding mechanisms, including a potential property tax override vote, remain under discussion.
The school’s enrollment in the 2024-25 school year is consistent with a mid-sized elementary school. No data was available for chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller populations of White students, Black students, and students of other backgrounds. Two data points that parents may wish to ask the school about directly are the share of students who receive special education services and the proportion who are identified as English learners, as neither figure was available from the source materials.
For a family trying to decide if this is the right fit, the central takeaway is that Chandler Magnet serves a population with significant economic and academic challenges, and its test-score results have been persistently low over many years. The school’s dual-language magnet designation is a distinct feature in Worcester, but the data provided does not allow an assessment of how that program functions or what academic outcomes are associated with it. A parent considering this school would want to visit, talk to the principal about the structured literacy rollout and how it is affecting instruction in the early grades, and ask about supports for students who are not yet reading at grade level, including those learning English.
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