Persell Middle School, Jamestown NY

Original Research by School Decision on Persell Middle School

Persell Middle School is a regular public middle school serving grades five through eight in Jamestown, a postindustrial city in southern Chautauqua County. The school enrolls a mid-sized cohort across its four grades, with roughly similar numbers in each grade band, and draws from Jamestown's urban residential neighborhoods and the surrounding district area.

The student body is largely white, with a substantial share identifying as Hispanic or multiracial, and a notable portion speaks languages other than English at home; the data on English learners was not available, so a parent may want to reach out to the school directly for that detail. More than three-quarters of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a strong indicator that the school serves a community with significant economic need.

On state testing, Persell's results reflect a school working with academic challenges. In math, proficiency across the school's tested grades ranges from around one-third at the sixth-grade level to near one-half at seventh and eighth grade, with fifth grade falling in the middle. In English language arts, the pattern is similar, with sixth-grade performance the lowest and performance stronger in seventh grade. Science proficiency is mixed: fifth grade sits below the math and ELA proficiency line, while eighth-grade science performance is the highest single subject result the school reports, closer to one-half of students meeting proficiency. Testing participation was high across most grades, though eighth-grade participation dipped below nine-tenths for both math and science, so a parent may want to understand whether that reflects attendance, opt-outs, or other factors. Overall, positioned against other districts in Chautauqua County, Persell's proficiency index sits below the county midpoint.

Social studies testing data is older (from a decade ago) and therefore not a current picture of performance in that subject.

Persell is one of the district's middle schools. The Jamestown City School District recently completed a major curriculum overhaul in reading and literacy, adopting a new K-8 curriculum aligned to New York's Science of Reading framework, with an emphasis on phonemic awareness and phonics in early grades. The district also passed a substantial capital improvement project in 2023 that brings building renovations across every school, including Persell. Construction at the middle schools is scheduled to extend into 2027, so families enrolling now should anticipate both facility upgrades and the presence of construction activity during the school years ahead.

A meaningful recent change in daily school life took effect in September 2025: the district has adopted a bell-to-bell restriction on personal devices (smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, wireless headphones) for all students, including during lunch, recess, and hallways. This is a district-wide policy shift tied to New York State's statewide distraction-free schools law, and it shapes the in-school environment for middle-grade students.

Jamestown itself is a compact postindustrial city of the Southern Tier, with a historically intact downtown core and dense residential neighborhoods rising on steep hills. The city has invested in riverfront revitalization, including a five-mile riverwalk trail, new parks, and civic attractions such as the National Comedy Center. The downtown is walkable and home to the city's main civic anchors, including the James Prendergast Library and the transit hub; the public high school sits downtown in an Art Deco building from the New Deal era. Employment centers on manufacturing (including Cummins, Truck-Lite, and TitanX) and health services (WCA Hospital and WCA Group), alongside institutional employers like Jamestown Community College and the school district itself.

The housing market shows modest value with rental prevalence: median home values are modest for the state, and rents are relatively low, making the area affordable on a national and state basis. Recent housing activity has centered on restoration and affordability rather than growth, including mixed-use renovations and affordable supportive housing projects. The county market shows a shift toward higher inventory in recent months, with more active listings and longer time-on-market metrics, consistent with a buyer-favoring dynamic after periods of tighter supply.

The district has pursued fiscal discipline in recent years, approving operating budgets with little to no increase in the tax levy and passing voter approval by wide margins. This pattern is relevant to families considering the stability of local property-tax obligations, though it is worth noting that the capital improvement project approved in December 2023 will have a tax impact over its construction timeline through 2027.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

New York Regents Exams

2 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Math	18	100.0%
Science	15	100.0%

Math

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 19% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 29% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 36% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 31% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 27% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 26% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 32% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 30% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 21% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 33% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 580%

School 80% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 876%

School 76% · district not reported

▼ 2 pts below state median

This schoolJAMESTOWN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income73%41 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income56%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income31%Higher-income76%45 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income35%Higher-income53%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income62%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income50%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income80%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income50%Higher-income38%12 pp gap