The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in Math. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on William D'abate Elem. School
William D'Abate Elementary School sits on Kossuth Street in Providence, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Providence district. It is a neighborhood elementary of moderate size for its grade band, drawing a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller Black, white, and multiracial populations. The overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school firmly in the category of high-poverty urban elementary education. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those population shares remain unknown.
On Rhode Island's state assessments, the most recent RICAS results show proficiency rates that are low. In math, roughly a fifth of tested students reached proficient or above. In English language arts, the share proficient was lower still. Science results for fifth grade, measured through the NGSA assessment, were the weakest of the three subjects, with only a small fraction of students demonstrating proficiency. Participation was near-universal across all subjects, so the results reflect nearly the entire tested population rather than a skewed subset. Only one year of data is available, so there is no trend to describe; whether these numbers represent a stable pattern or a recent shift cannot be determined from what was provided.
The school does not have high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The data set also does not include information on staffing ratios, discipline incidents, attendance rates, course offerings, or specialized programs. Title I status was not reported, though the free-or-reduced-price lunch rate alone would typically qualify a school at this level. Without these pieces, a full picture of the school's instructional environment and student support structure is not possible from the available data. A parent considering this school would want to ask directly about class sizes, teacher retention, available interventions, and any enrichment or wraparound services, since none of that appears here.
The surrounding neighborhood, in the 02909 zip code, offers housing that is more accessible than much of Rhode Island. Typical home values sit well below the state benchmark, and rents are modest relative to broader Providence County. For families weighing where to live, this area presents a lower-cost entry point into the Providence market, with rents that are manageable relative to typical incomes. The trade-off is that the local elementary option is working with a student population facing substantial economic need and producing proficiency results that lag behind state expectations.
Providence Public Schools, the parent district, is a large urban system. The district brief turned up no recently reported policy changes, curriculum overhauls, bond referendums, or leadership shifts that clear a lasting-impact threshold, so there is little to relay about district-level momentum or disruption that would shape a family's decision right now.
What the data does say clearly is that D'Abate is a school serving a community with concentrated poverty and academic results that have not yet reached proficiency at meaningful rates. The participation numbers suggest the school is taking assessment seriously and testing its full population. The question for families is what supports exist between those low proficiency numbers and the children sitting in the classrooms, and the available data does not answer that. A visit to the school, a conversation with the principal about intervention blocks and tutoring, and a look at how the school communicates progress to families would fill in what the public data leaves open.
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