School 16-john Walton Spencer, Rochester NY

Original Research by School Decision on School 16-john Walton Spencer

School 16-John Walton Spencer serves early grades through sixth grade in a neighborhood setting in Rochester. The school enrolls a small population of students, with representation across pre-K through sixth grade. The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of Hispanic, multiracial, and white students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the neighborhood the school serves.

State testing data from the most recent school year shows proficiency rates well below the state standard across both English language arts and math. In third-grade math, proficiency reached the low-to-mid range; fourth-grade math was slightly lower. By fifth grade, math proficiency dropped sharply to a single-digit percentage. Sixth-grade math showed recovery to low-single-digit range. In English language arts, third-grade proficiency was very low, while fourth-grade showed modest gains to the mid-range. Fifth and sixth grades stayed in the low-to-mid range. The one science result available, fifth-grade, was also low. These results position the school in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Monroe County on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades.

The school serves a grade band that does not include high school, so graduation rate data does not apply. Information on special education enrollment, English learner population, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism was not available in the data provided.

The Rochester City School District underwent its most significant reconfiguration in more than a decade, beginning in the 2024-25 school year. The district closed schools and realigned grades into elementary, middle, and high school structures. Students affected by closures entered a special lottery for reassignment. Separately, the district ended its educational partnership with the University of Rochester, returning one prominent school to full district control. These structural changes, along with the loss of federal COVID-relief funding and roughly several hundred positions, signal a district contraction. Enrollment in the district has declined over time, and budget projections point to continuing pressure on resources.

In the Rochester housing market, median home values and rental rates are modest relative to the state and national benchmarks. The local real estate market shows active supply and demand, with the number of active listings, new listings, and pending transactions all substantially higher year-over-year. The city itself is in the midst of downtown revitalization after decades of population decline, with adaptive-reuse housing projects, state-funded affordable housing development, and the fill-in of an urban expressway underway.

A family considering this school would want to look further into the low proficiency rates, particularly the sharp drop in math starting in fifth grade, to understand the root causes, current instructional focus, and any targeted supports in place. The timing of district-wide reconfiguration may also be relevant to ask about directly, as structural changes can affect staffing stability and program continuity.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 25% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 17% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 13% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 18% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 312%

School 12% · District 22% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 19% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 19% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 20% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 14% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 562%

School 62% · district not reported

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

This schoolROCHESTER 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 3Lower-income11%Higher-income13%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income29%Higher-income67%38 pp gap