The top reported proficiency rate is 21% in Science. The lowest is 5% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mcmichael Morton Sch
McMichael Morton is a small public elementary and middle school on Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia, serving a student population that is almost entirely Black and economically disadvantaged. The school enrolls a small number of students across pre-K through eighth grade, with roughly balanced enrollment in each grade.
The academic picture here reflects significant challenge. On the most recent state testing in math, the proficiency rate among third through eighth graders was very low, around one in twenty students. In English language arts, the rate was higher but still sparse, around one in eight students. Science results from the prior year showed proficiency around one in five students. These results place the school well below typical district and state performance levels. A parent may want to look into what instructional supports the school is offering in response, particularly given the district's recent shift to new reading and math curricula across all schools.
The school's student demographics reflect the neighborhood it serves. All students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that every family in the school meets federal poverty thresholds. The student body is predominantly Black, with very small numbers of students of other races. The school has very limited diversity by race and ethnicity.
McMichael Morton sits in the Fairmount neighborhood of West Philadelphia, an urban residential area anchored by Fairmount Park and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, home to major cultural institutions and the city's largest municipal park system. The neighborhood mixes historic rowhouses with commercial corridors and is part of a broader pattern of concentrated investment in Center City and University City that has drawn new residents and housing development to wealthier areas of the city in recent years. The housing market in the school's ZIP code is below Philadelphia's median, and rent is more affordable than in many neighborhoods closer to downtown.
The Philadelphia School District, McMichael Morton's parent district, is implementing substantial changes. In 2024-25, all schools adopted a science-of-reading English curriculum called EL Education for elementary grades, replacing earlier materials. The district also rolled out a new math curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics, the prior year. These shifts standardize instruction across all schools for the first time in years and directly shape what happens in every classroom. Reading scores dipped slightly after the first year of the new ELA curriculum, with two-thirds of students still not reading at grade level district-wide. The district also recently approved a facilities master plan that will close and consolidate schools over the next decade, though McMichael Morton was not listed among schools subject to closure.
State testing data does not provide average scale scores for math and English at McMichael Morton, so a fuller picture of where students stand on a continuous scale is unavailable. The school's rate data alone cannot explain whether performance is rising or falling over time, since comparison data across years is not present. These gaps in trend information mean a parent interested in understanding whether the school's instruction is improving would benefit from talking directly with school leadership about student growth metrics and intervention strategies beyond what the snapshot provides.
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