Summary
Mosier in South Hadley, MA, serves 365 students in grades 2 through 4 and has historically been an average-performing school, but it recently experienced a sharp decline to its lowest point in a decade. In the 2024-2025 school year, Mosier dropped from the 44th percentile to the 27th percentile (1 star), a much steeper fall than nearby schools like East Meadow in Granby, which actually improved, or Streiber Memorial School in Chicopee, which only dropped slightly. This suggests a specific, recent challenge at Mosier rather than a regional trend. The school’s math scores are a particular weakness, with only 29% of students proficient compared to 41% statewide, while English Language Arts scores are closer to the state average.
One of the most striking findings is a dramatic reversal in how well Mosier serves its Hispanic students. In the 2022-2023 school year, the school ranked in the 71st percentile for this group, indicating strong support, but by 2024-2025, that rank plummeted to the 12th percentile. This is the most extreme decline of any student subgroup and suggests a breakdown in strategies that were previously working. Additionally, Mosier spends significantly less per student ($14,723) than all nearby comparable schools, including Fairview Elementary ($19,094) and H.B. Lawrence School ($19,604) in Holyoke. Even Plains Elementary, the other school in the South Hadley district, spends $18,585 per student, raising questions about resource allocation.
Despite these challenges, Mosier has shown it can perform better. Its best recent year was 2017-2018, when it ranked in the 63rd percentile (3 stars), and during the pandemic, its remote learning was relatively effective, ranking in the 59th percentile. The school is also situated in a region with several very low-performing schools, particularly in Holyoke, so its historical performance has been a relative bright spot. However, its recent decline now places it closer to struggling Chicopee schools than to top performers like Bowie or Streiber Memorial. For parents, the key areas to watch are whether the school can reverse its math struggles and rebuild support for Hispanic students, as well as how the district addresses the spending gap between Mosier and Plains Elementary.
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