Claiborne Pell Elementary

Claiborne Pell Elementary, a large K-5 school in Newport, Rhode Island, part of Newport, educates 657 students, covering grades pre-K through 4. By comparison, Rhode Island's public schools average about 332 students each, so Claiborne Pell Elementary sits 98% larger than that benchmark.

Claiborne Pell Elementary is one of 3 schools operated by Newport, a district that enrolls 1,755 students overall.

Demographically, Claiborne Pell Elementary logs that 43% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest looks like 33% White, 12% multiracial, 9% Black, 3% Native American. By comparison, Newport County as a whole is about 7% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Claiborne Pell Elementary has 60 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.6:1 average. About 74% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Newport County runs at roughly 38%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Newport County) shows that median household income runs about $103,514, about 54% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Claiborne Pell Elementary is one of 21 public schools in Newport County (combined enrollment of about 7,784 students).

The closest other public school is Middletown High School, roughly 1.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in a suburban setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Claiborne Pell Elementary's enrollment has ticked down 27% since 2018, when it stood at 898 (now 657). Hispanic enrollment moved from 28% to 43% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 10.9:1 in 2025.

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