Campton Elementary School, Campton NH

Original Research by School Decision on Campton Elementary School

Campton Elementary School is a single public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the town of Campton, New Hampshire, a rural community spread across several dispersed villages in the foothills of the White Mountains. The school is small for its grade band, with roughly two dozen to three dozen students per grade. Its student body is predominantly white, with a small number of students identifying as Hispanic, Asian, multiracial, or Black. About three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available in the sources we reviewed, so we cannot speak to those populations.

The school functions as more than an academic institution here. Campton has no traditional downtown; civic offices and the town library cluster on Gearty Way, and the library is housed inside the elementary school building. The town is auto-dependent, crossed by Interstate 93 and several state routes, with no public transit. For families, this means the school is the closest thing the community has to a gathering point. After eighth grade, students move on to Plymouth Regional High School, part of the Pemi-Baker Cooperative district, roughly nine miles south in Plymouth.

On New Hampshire's state assessments, the most recent results paint a generally solid picture in English language arts. Across grades three through eight, a majority of students reached proficiency in every grade tested, with several grades clearing a comfortable majority. The strongest results appeared in fifth and seventh grade, where roughly seven in ten students were proficient. Reading and writing appear to be a relative strength for the school.

Math results were more mixed. Several grades saw a majority of students proficient, with fifth and seventh grade again among the stronger performers. But fourth grade and especially eighth grade were softer spots, with eighth grade math proficiency falling below half of tested students. Science, assessed only in fifth and eighth grade, was the weakest area in the data, with fewer than half of students reaching proficiency in both grades. A parent weighing the upper elementary and middle school experience may want to look into how the school supports math and science instruction in the later grades, particularly as students prepare for the transition to Plymouth Regional.

The school has implemented a bell-to-bell cell phone ban, meaning student phones are prohibited from the first bell to the last. This is a concrete daily policy that shapes the classroom environment, and families considering the school should know it going in.

Campton itself is scenic and rural, with a large second-home population and outdoor recreation central to its identity. The White Mountain National Forest, Blair State Forest, and Livermore Falls State Forest all touch the town, and Waterville Valley Resort sits nearby for skiing and other recreation. The Pemigewasset River and its tributaries run through town. Growth has been steady rather than rapid over recent decades, and the town has adopted a master plan and maintains a capital improvement plan. No specific major new housing developments were identified in the research.

The housing market in the broader Grafton County area shows moderate home values relative to the state, with typical homes priced below the statewide benchmark but above the national one. Listings have been moving at a measured pace, and the market shows healthy supply and demand balances. For a family considering a move, housing in the Campton area is attainable relative to much of New Hampshire while still reflecting the premium that comes with a White Mountains-adjacent location.

What the data does not cover is worth naming. We found no information on course offerings, staffing ratios, attendance patterns, discipline data, or specific programs such as dual-credit or career pathways. The school serves elementary and middle grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Civil rights data was not available. Families wanting a fuller picture would want to ask the school directly about enrichment offerings, special education services, and how the upper grades prepare students for the transition to high school in Plymouth.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 764%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 9 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 771%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolCampton School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income62%Higher-income81%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income54%Higher-income69%15 pp gap