Schools in Zip Code 02835

ZIP code 02835 has two public schools serving Jamestown students from prekindergarten through grade 8: Jamestown School-Melrose serves PK–4 and Jamestown School-Lawn serves grades 5–8, with 396 students combined. The most important finding is that both schools’ 2025–26 results substantially exceed state results: ELA proficiency is 70.9% at Melrose and 70.5% at Lawn, versus 33.1% statewide; math is 68.4% and 68.8%, respectively, versus 31.9% statewide.

Neither school is a clear overall achievement leader: their all-grades ELA and math results differ by just 0.4 percentage points, with Melrose narrowly ahead in ELA and Lawn narrowly ahead in math. Lawn also reports 68.2% proficiency in science, 37.1 points above the state; it is the only school with a science result in this data. SchoolDigger ranks Lawn first of 68 Rhode Island middle schools and gives it five stars; Melrose ranks ninth of 163 elementary schools and also has five stars. These rankings place both near the top of their respective groups, rather than providing a direct ranking against each other.

Recent results moved in different directions: Melrose’s ELA and math scores fell 4.1 and 6.6 points from 2024–25, while Lawn rose 3.1 points in ELA, 3.6 in math and 8.2 in science. Grade-level results also vary: for example, Melrose’s math proficiency ranges from 56.5% in grade 4 to 84.8% in grade 3, while Lawn’s ranges from 60.5% in grade 6 to 83.3% in grade 8. Lawn has a lower student-teacher ratio (9 versus 10.8), higher listed spending per student ($25,723 versus $24,935) and a higher free/reduced-lunch rate (11.64% versus 9.66%); these are contextual observations, not explanations of results. SchoolDigger rank histories show Lawn moving from fourth to first and Melrose from third to ninth between 2024–25 and 2025–26. Comparisons cover only these two schools, which serve different grade spans.