Monroe Lower School

Monroe Lower School is a public middle school located in Rochester, New York, serving grades 7-8 with a total enrollment of 272 students. The school is part of the Rochester City School District, which is ranked 849 out of 865 school districts in New York and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger. Monroe Lower School has consistently ranked among the lowest-performing middle schools in the state, ranking 1499 out of 1504 New York middle schools for the 2023-2024 school year and receiving a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Monroe Lower School's academic performance is significantly below the state and district averages across various subjects and grade levels. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, only 6.94% of 7th-grade students and 14.94% of 8th-grade students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to the state averages of 49.56% and 51.88%, respectively. In mathematics, the proficiency rates were even lower, with 7.79% of 7th-graders and 0% of 8th-graders meeting or exceeding the standards, compared to the state averages of 57.08% and 40.72%. The school's performance is particularly concerning for certain student subgroups, such as female students, African American students, Hispanic students, and special education students, who all rank significantly lower than their peers across the state.

When comparing Monroe Lower School to other nearby schools within the Rochester City School District, the academic performance is consistently lower across all subjects and grade levels. For example, Northwest College Preparatory High School and Franklin Lower School, which are both within a 3-mile radius of Monroe Lower School, have slightly higher proficiency rates but still perform well below the state averages. Despite the school's relatively high per-student spending of $15,999 in the 2022-2023 school year and a low student-teacher ratio of 12.2, these factors do not appear to be driving better academic outcomes for the students at Monroe Lower School.