Summary:
Zip code 06374 contains two elementary schools in Plainfield, CT, serving grades PK–3 and 4–5 with a combined enrollment of 683 students across the Plainfield School District. Both schools serve similar high-poverty populations, with roughly 61% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Plainfield Memorial School is the stronger-performing school in the area. It has an exceptionally low chronic absenteeism rate of 9.7%, less than half the district rate of 19.4% and well below the state average of 16.4%. It also has a lower student-teacher ratio (11.8 vs. 13.0) and higher per-student spending ($14,724 vs. $13,587) than Shepard Hill Elementary School. Plainfield Memorial’s 5th-grade science proficiency rate of 55% exceeds the state average, and its state ranking places it in the 38th percentile for 2025–2026, though this has slipped from the 54th percentile in 2023–2024.
By contrast, Shepard Hill Elementary School shows troubling recent declines. Its 3rd-grade English Language Arts proficiency fell from 32.1% to 15.7% between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, while math dropped from 37.2% to 25.3% — far below state averages. Chronic absenteeism at Shepard Hill is 16.4%, matching the state average but still higher than Plainfield Memorial’s strong attendance. Given that Shepard Hill feeds into Plainfield Memorial, the contrast is notable: students arrive at a school with better attendance, more resources, and stronger test outcomes. While both schools have room for improvement, Plainfield Memorial is clearly the higher-performing option in this zip code, and Shepard Hill may need targeted support to reverse its downward trend.
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