The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in English language arts. The lowest is 54% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Perry Public Schools
Perry Public Schools is a very small, single-school district in rural Washington County, Maine, serving students from prekindergarten through twelfth grade. The district operates Perry Elementary School, which covers the elementary and middle grades, while a handful of high school students appear in the enrollment rolls. How those upper grades are actually served is not made clear in the available data, and a parent of an older child would want to ask the district directly about the arrangement, whether through tuition agreements with a neighboring district or an alternative pathway.
The enrollment is tiny by any standard. Each grade level in the elementary and middle bands holds single-digit numbers of students, and the high school grades have only a few students each. This is the defining characteristic of the district. For families who want a setting where every teacher knows every child and class sizes are inherently small, this is the environment. The tradeoff is that a small peer group can limit social options and the breadth of electives or activities a larger school could offer. The student body is predominantly white, with a small representation of American Indian or Alaska Native students and a few students identified as two or more races. Data on free or reduced-price lunch, special education, and English learner populations was not reported, so the economic and linguistic profile of the student community cannot be characterized from what is available.
On state assessments for grades three through eight, Perry's results tell a generally positive story in English language arts. A clear majority of tested students reached proficiency in ELA, which stands as a strength for a district of this size and setting. Math results were more mixed, with a bare majority of students proficient. Science proficiency was not reported, so no read on that subject is possible from the data provided. No participation rates were available, and no multi-year trend data was supplied, so it is hard to say whether these results represent a stable pattern or a single year's snapshot. A parent may want to look into how the school performs over time and how it supports students who fall below proficiency, particularly in math.
The district brief turned up no recent referendums, curriculum overhauls, property tax shifts, or other policy changes that would alter a family's calculations. This is a quiet district without visible disruption or major transition underway.
Housing in Perry is notably affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. The typical home value sits well below the Maine statewide figure and far below the national one, and the price-to-income ratio is low, meaning a family earning a typical income would find homeownership more attainable here than in most of the state. This is a rural, coastal Washington County community, and the housing market reflects that. Rent data was not available, so renters would need to look elsewhere for current pricing.
What the data does not cover is substantial. There is no graduation rate, which is expected given that the high school grades serve only a handful of students and may operate through arrangements outside the district's own school. No discipline data, course access information, staffing figures, attendance rates, or program offerings were provided. The locale and community context beyond housing was also absent. A family considering Perry would be wise to contact the school directly for details on how the upper grades work, what supports exist for struggling learners, and what enrichment or extracurricular options are available in a setting this small.
In short, Perry Public Schools is a very small rural district where the strengths are intimacy, individual attention, and solid reading results, and where the open questions are math performance, the high school pathway, and the limits that size places on program breadth.
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