The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Andover School District
Andover School District is a single-school district in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, serving kindergarten through eighth grade at Andover Elementary School. The enrollment is small, with cohorts of similar size at each grade level. A district this size offers a close-knit setting where students stay with the same peer group across all their elementary and middle school years. Because the district does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and students transition to another district or school for ninth grade and beyond.
State assessment results from the most recent year show a mixed academic picture. In English language arts, the district's overall proficiency sits around the midpoint, with stronger results in the upper grades. Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders posted proficiency rates that a parent would generally find encouraging, with a clear majority of students meeting or exceeding standards in those grades. Fourth grade also showed a solid share of proficient readers. Third grade was an exception, with no students reaching proficiency, though the tested group was very small, meaning a few children's results determined the outcome.
Mathematics told a different story. District-wide math proficiency was lower than ELA, and results varied considerably from grade to grade. Sixth grade was the strongest, with nearly half of students proficient. Fourth grade approached that level. But third, fifth, and eighth grades showed smaller shares of students meeting standards. As with ELA, the small number of tested students in each grade means these figures can swing noticeably from year to year, so a single cohort's results may not reflect a stable pattern.
Science was assessed only in fifth and eighth grades. Fifth-grade proficiency was moderate, while eighth-grade science proficiency was lower. Again, small cohort sizes temper the reliability of any single year's result.
The district does not have multi-year trend data available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. A parent looking for direction on academic trajectory would want to ask the district directly about longer-term patterns.
Several data points that would help round out the picture are absent. Free and reduced-price lunch rates were not reported, so the economic profile of the student body is unclear. Race and ethnicity breakdowns were not available. Special education and English learner rates were also missing. Without these, it is hard to assess how the district serves different student populations or how it compares demographically to nearby areas. The district's locale classification, staffing levels, discipline data, and course access information were not provided either. We looked for recent district-level changes or initiatives and found little publicly reported, so we left that out rather than guess.
On housing, the district covers the Andover area. Home values here sit below the New Hampshire state benchmark but above the national figure, and the market has seen substantial year-over-year appreciation. Rent data was not available for this area. The price-to-income ratio suggests that purchasing a home requires a considerable income relative to many parts of the country, and current mortgage rates add to that cost. For families considering a move, housing in the district is more affordable than much of New Hampshire but has been appreciating quickly.
No comparison data placing Andover among neighboring districts was available, so we cannot position its academic results or housing costs against peers here. A parent interested in that comparison could look at Merrimack County districts directly.
What the data does convey is a very small, single-school district where class sizes are intimate and students are known. ELA instruction appears to be a relative strength, particularly in the middle grades, while math results are more uneven. The small cohort sizes mean parents should treat any single year's proficiency figures as a snapshot rather than a trend, and should ask the school about how it supports students who are below grade level, particularly in the earliest tested grades where this year's results were weakest.
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