Summary:
Zip code 06516 is home to six elementary schools serving grades PK-4 in the West Haven School District, a Connecticut community where all six schools have a majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The district ranks 119th out of 153 districts statewide, and total enrollment across the schools is about 2,224 students, ranging from 320 to 459 per school.
Edith E. Mackrille School is the clear standout, ranking 186th in the state (62nd percentile) and exceeding Connecticut averages in both math and ELA across multiple grades. Its 4th grade math proficiency of 77.8% is 25.7 points above the state average, an exceptional result for a school with a 58.8% low-income rate and the highest student-teacher ratio in the group. Seth G. Haley School is the rising performer, climbing from the 31st to the 45th percentile, with 3rd grade math at 55.1% and the lowest chronic absenteeism rate in the group at 15.2%. Alma E. Pagels School sits in the middle with 43.2% average proficiency, while Savin Rock Community School and Forest School trail below 39%, and Washington School posted the lowest scores with limited data.
Chronic absenteeism is the clearest dividing line between strong and weak outcomes: the two lowest-performing schools have absenteeism rates of 28.9% and 26.4%, while the other four schools cluster between 15.2% and 17.5%, near the state average of 16.4%. Higher spending does not guarantee better results either, as Pagels spends the most per student ($17,795) yet trails Mackrille, which spends $15,587. Families should also look at multi-year trends, since small cohorts produce dramatic year-to-year swings — Pagels saw a 14-point drop in 4th grade ELA while Forest improved by more than 16 points. Overall, Mackrille is the strongest academic choice, Haley is a solid and improving alternative, and the district as a whole lags Connecticut state averages.
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