Kennelly School

Kennelly School is a PK-8 public school on White Street in Hartford, CT, serving 628 students in a community where about 80% of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school has historically ranked in the bottom 10% of Connecticut elementary schools, and it currently holds a 7th-percentile ranking within the Hartford School District, which itself ranks among the lowest-performing districts in the state.

Despite the low overall test scores, Kennelly has some meaningful bright spots. Chronic absenteeism has improved dramatically, falling from 36.7% to 26.2% over four years, and it now runs about 10 percentage points better than the Hartford district average. In upper grades, Kennelly students often outperform the district — 7th grade ELA beat the district by 5 points, and 8th grade ELA beat it by nearly 10 points in recent years. The school's English Language Learner students also earned a 4-star rating in 2020-2021, a rare distinction for a school with such low overall rankings. Per-pupil spending ($16,807) and class sizes are comparable to nearby schools, so staffing resources are not the main obstacle.

In the neighborhood, Kennelly outperforms M.D. Fox School and Dwight-Bellizzi Dual Language Academy, but trails magnet and choice schools like Environmental Sciences Magnet at Hooker School and Expeditionary Learning Academy at Moylan School by significant margins — despite serving similar populations. Just 1.5 miles away, Charter Oak International Academy in West Hartford posts dramatically higher proficiency rates with slightly lower spending. The good news is that Kennelly's upper-grade and ELL successes show the school has effective practices worth building on; extending them into the early elementary grades could make a real difference over time.