Chester Academy, Chester NH - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Chester Academy

Chester Academy is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the town of Chester, New Hampshire, part of the Chester School District. The town is primarily residential with a rural, historic character, and the school sits on Murphy Drive just off the main road network. Civic life in Chester centers on the Municipal Office Building and Stevens Memorial Hall, and the town has seen steady residential growth over recent decades. Public transit is available through CART, and the nearest hospitals are in Derry and Manchester. Because Chester does not operate its own high school, students in grades nine through twelve are tuitioned to Pinkerton Academy in Derry, so families considering Chester Academy should understand that secondary education happens on a separate campus outside the town.

The school's enrollment is moderate for its grade band, and its student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and smaller still shares of Asian, multiracial, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A very small portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Chester Academy among the lower-poverty public schools in the state. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those figures cannot be characterized here. That gap may reflect reporting choices at the state or district level rather than an absence of such students, and a parent wanting detail on special education or language support services would want to ask the school directly.

On New Hampshire's state assessments, Chester Academy shows real strength in English language arts. Proficiency is solid in the third grade and becomes stronger moving into the middle grades, with seventh grade standing out as a particular bright spot and sixth and eighth grade also performing well. The fourth grade is the relative soft spot in ELA, dipping below the school's otherwise consistent showing. Mathematics follows a different pattern: third grade is strong, sixth and seventh grade are quite strong, but proficiency drops off notably in fifth grade and remains modest in fourth and eighth. Participation rates are generally high across grades and subjects, though eighth-grade participation in both math and ELA dips somewhat below full participation.

Science results are the school's clearest area of concern. Only fifth and eighth grades are tested, and proficiency in both is low, with fifth grade being the weaker of the two. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, especially if their child is approaching those grade levels. Without multi-year trend data, it is difficult to say whether these science results reflect a one-year dip or a persistent pattern.

The housing market in Chester's zip code is expensive relative to both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit well above the New Hampshire average and far above the national figure, and values have appreciated sharply over the past year. The broader Rockingham County market is active, with listing volume and pending sales both at elevated levels and homes moving quickly relative to recent months. Estimated monthly carrying costs for a mortgage are substantial, and the price-to-income ratio is high, meaning families buying into the area should expect a considerable financial commitment. Rental data was not available for this zip code, so a complete cost picture for renting families is not possible from the available information.

Chester Academy fits families looking for a small-town, rural setting with a cohesive pre-K-through-eight pathway under one roof, a peer group that is relatively affluent and homogeneous, and solid to strong academic results in English language arts and upper-elementary and middle-grade mathematics. The science scores are a soft spot worth investigating, and the transition to Pinkerton Academy for high school is a structural reality of attending school in Chester rather than a drawback. The district brief search did not surface specific lasting changes from recent years, so there is little to report on programmatic shifts or strategic initiatives beyond what the assessment data and school profile already convey.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 40% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 55% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 60% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 872%

School 72% · District 70% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 31% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolChester 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.