Summary:
Zip code 02744 contains four schools — three elementary schools and one middle school — serving students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, all within the New Bedford district, which ranks 327 of 351 Massachusetts districts at the 7th percentile with 0 stars. Total enrollment is 1,706 students: 947 across the three elementary schools and 759 at Roosevelt Middle School, which alone accounts for about 44.5% of the students listed. Free/reduced-lunch percentages are blank for all four schools, so economic disadvantage cannot be examined here; spending figures are from 2020–2021 and student-teacher ratios from 2024–2025.
William H Taylor is the clear standout. Despite being the smallest school at 267 students, it is the only school in the zip code exceeding the state averages in all-grade ELA (50.00% vs. 40.03%), math (58.04% vs. 41.11%), and science (48.57% vs. 40.98%), and it far surpasses the district. Its 3rd grade math proficiency of 85.29% is more than double the state average, and it ranks 287 of 899 schools (68th percentile, 3 stars). The other three schools fall below both district and state in every all-grade subject. Roosevelt Middle School sits at the 14th percentile (1 star), John B Devalles at the 3rd percentile, and Irwin M. Jacobs Elementary School at the 1st percentile, with all-grade math of just 7.95% and science of 5.36%.
The gap between Taylor and its neighbors appears to be widening: Taylor gained in ELA and math from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while Irwin and Devalles declined in all three all-grade subjects and Roosevelt declined in ELA, science, and civics. Science is a particular weak point — Roosevelt (8.11%) and Irwin (5.36%) scored far lower in science than in ELA or math. Notably, resources do not track with results: Taylor has the highest student-teacher ratio and second-lowest per-student spending yet the strongest outcomes, while Roosevelt has the lowest ratio and highest spending with low outcomes.
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