Elementary Schools in Palmer

For elementary-school families in Palmer, Massachusetts, the area is served by one elementary school: Old Mill Pond, which enrolls 677 students in grades PK–6 and belongs to the Palmer district. Because it is the only elementary school in this data set, there are no other local elementary schools to compare it with directly, so the most useful context comes from comparing its results with district and state averages.

The school’s strongest subject is science. In 2025–2026, all-grade science proficiency was 45.71%, above the state’s 40.98% and well above the district’s 33.80%. Fifth-grade science was also 45.71%, slightly above the state’s 43.07% and the district’s 45.37%. Science improved dramatically from 30.16% in 2024–2025 to 45.71% in 2025–2026, a gain of +15.55 percentage points. Over the same period, ELA and math each declined by 0.81 points. English language arts is the biggest weakness: all-grade ELA was 22.67%, compared with 40.03% statewide and 22.02% in the district. Fifth- and sixth-grade ELA were especially low, at 16.19% and 18.31%. Math was stronger than ELA but still below state: all-grade math was 27.41%, versus 41.11% statewide and 28.24% in the district. Fifth-grade math was the school’s best math grade at 29.52%, while sixth-grade math was weakest at 23.94%.

Ranking and context show a mixed picture. In 2025–2026, the school ranked 656 out of 899 elementary schools, in the 27th percentile, with 1 star; it has stayed at 1 star for three reported years. The Palmer district itself ranks 296 out of 351 districts, in the 16th percentile, with 1 star. The school reports a 12.9 student-teacher ratio and $17,518 per-student spending in 2020–2021, but the data set does not include state or district averages for those metrics. The free/reduced lunch percentage is not available, so it cannot be used as socioeconomic context. Overall, science is a clear and improving strength, while ELA and math remain substantially below state averages and the school’s ranking remains near the lower end of Massachusetts elementary schools.