The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cold Springs School
Cold Springs School serves preschool through third grade in Gloucester City, a dense, small city on the Delaware River directly across from Philadelphia. It is a regular public school and one of three buildings in the Gloucester City Public School District that sit along Market Street, giving the district a compact, walkable civic core. The school’s enrollment is large for a PK–3 building, and about two-thirds of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need. The student body is diverse: roughly half of students are White, with the remainder a mix of Hispanic, Black, Asian, multiracial, and smaller groups. This composition is a characteristic of the community, not a strength or weakness.
State testing results are available only for third grade, as earlier grades are not tested. In math, a share of third graders scored proficient or above; in English language arts, a modestly larger share did. Across both subjects, the school’s overall proficiency rate places it below the midpoint relative to districts in Camden County. Because the data covers just one grade and one year, this is a narrow window into academic performance. A parent may want to look into how students perform in later elementary grades, when the school’s feeder pattern continues.
The school’s early-grade focus means there is no graduation rate to report, no high school course offerings, and no chronic absenteeism data in the available records. These gaps are expected for a PK–3 school. Similarly, data on special education and English learner populations was not provided.
The community context matters here. Gloucester City is a very compact place with a mix of residential blocks and industrial uses. Transportation and warehousing dominate the local economy, consistent with the city’s location near bridges and highways. Home values and rents are well below state and county medians, making the area relatively affordable for the region. The housing market in Camden County shows a moderate increase in active listings and median listing prices, but the city itself has seen very slow population growth. The district’s middle school has crossed an overcrowding threshold due to rising enrollment, and the district is working with state agencies to find solutions. A high school roof replacement was recently funded by the state, which improves the physical learning environment for older students. These district-level changes could eventually affect school assignments and class sizes at Cold Springs if the district reshapes its facility plan.
For a family considering this school, the main takeaway is that Cold Springs is a large, high-need elementary school in a working-class, densely built river town. Academic proficiency in third grade is below the county midpoint, which is worth asking the district about—particularly how student progress looks as children move through the upper elementary grades. The school’s size and its role as the entry point for the district’s K–12 pathway mean that any facility or boundary decisions made at the district level will directly affect Cold Springs families. The lack of program data and broader academic context for grades PK–2 limits how much can be said about the full experience, but the available numbers give a grounded starting point for a conversation with the school.
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