Best Public Schools in Zip Code 02840

Zip code 02840 has three public schools in Newport, spanning prekindergarten through grade 12: Claiborne Pell Elementary, Frank E. Thompson Middle, and Rogers High School. The schools serve different grade levels and their current results use different assessments, so families should focus on the measures for their child’s grade. All supplied 2025–26 results are below their matching state results; the most important finding is that the size of the gap varies considerably by school, grade, and subject.

Among the two schools reporting RICAS results, Pell has the higher published all-grades percentages: 19.1% in ELA and 16.7% in math, versus Thompson’s 11.0% and 9.3%—differences of 8.1 and 7.4 percentage points. Pell’s gaps from state results are also smaller on these all-grades measures: 14.0 points in ELA and 15.2 in math, compared with Thompson’s 22.1 and 22.6. Thompson’s grade 6 ELA result is a particular concern at 6.8%, 24.6 points below the state; its strongest listed grade-level comparison, grade 5 ELA, is still 16.1 points below. Rogers is closest to the state on its supplied current high-school results, with a 10.6-point gap on SAT math; its largest listed gap is 17.8 points on PSAT10 math. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings also place Rogers highest among the three, at the 34th percentile, compared with Pell at the 13th and Thompson at the 12th.

Recent scores show different directions rather than a consistent area-wide trend. Pell’s RICAS ELA and math percentages fell 3.3 and 6.2 points from the prior year, while Thompson’s rose 1.0 and 0.8 points; Rogers’ SAT ELA fell 10.2 points as SAT math rose 2.5, and its PSAT10 ELA and math each increased. SchoolDigger’s rankings declined overall for Rogers (44th to 34th percentile) and Thompson (20th to 12th), while Pell moved from the 15th to 13th percentile after a drop from 20th. Student–teacher ratios are similar, from 10.3 at Rogers and Thompson to 10.9 at Pell; reported free/reduced-lunch rates range from 69.28% to 77.76%, as background context rather than an explanation of results. Rogers’ 2024–25 graduation rate was 76.4%, above the Newport district’s 73.7% but below the state’s 85.5%. These comparisons are not fully like-for-like because the schools serve different grades and use different assessments.