The top reported proficiency rate is 18% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dr. Norman W. Crisp School
Dr. Norman W. Crisp School sits on Arlington Street in Nashua, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Nashua School District. The school draws a predominantly Hispanic and white student body, with a meaningful portion of children identified as two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which positions Crisp as a school serving a working-class and economically mixed neighborhood within a city that straddles affordability and growth.
Nashua itself is New Hampshire's second-largest city, sitting just south of Manchester along the Massachusetts border. Its economy, once anchored by textile mills, has shifted toward financial services, high technology, and defense contracting, with employers like BAE Systems, Teradyne, and Oracle among the major private presences. The city has three commercial districts: a historic downtown along Main Street, the Amherst Street corridor to the northwest, and a South Nashua shopping destination anchored by Pheasant Lane Mall that draws cross-border shoppers taking advantage of New Hampshire's lack of sales tax. The Nashua Millyard, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is being redeveloped with loft apartments, artist studios, and startup workspaces, and a Riverwalk and Broad Street Parkway project have improved connections between downtown and the Everett Turnpike. Mine Falls Park offers a large green space adjacent to downtown and the Millyard. These civic and infrastructure investments shape the broader setting families encounter when considering the area.
The housing market around Crisp reflects a city that is more affordable than the statewide benchmark but costlier than the national picture. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit below the state midpoint, and rents are moderate by regional standards. Hillsborough County's listing inventory has been growing, with active and pending listings both up over the prior year, and median days on market hovering around the low to mid-twenties. The price-to-income ratio is elevated, and rent consumes roughly a third of typical household income, so families weighing a move here face a market that is active but not inexpensive. Housing has been a visible priority for the city, with downtown neighborhoods seeing new market-rate and affordable units added in recent years.
On state assessments, Crisp's results are low across subjects and grade levels. In mathematics, the share of students scoring proficient or above declines as grades rise, with third grade showing the strongest result among the three tested grades and fifth grade showing very few students reaching proficiency. English language arts results are more consistent across grades but remain low, with roughly one in five students demonstrating proficiency in the upper elementary grades. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a small fraction of students meeting the bar. Participation rates were at or near full across all tested grades and subjects. These results are a clear soft spot, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking about what supports and interventions are in place and how the building plans to strengthen instruction in the core grades.
The dataset does not include information on special education enrollment, English learner counts, staffing ratios, discipline, attendance, or course and program offerings. Without those, it is hard to characterize the full scope of student support or enrichment available at the building level. The Nashua School District has recently restored a Title I preschool program and centralized all student registrations through a Welcome Center at Birch Hill Elementary, both of which may affect how families experience enrollment and early childhood access across the district.
For a family considering Crisp, the school offers a neighborhood elementary experience in a city with genuine economic momentum and ongoing reinvestment in its downtown and riverfront. The academic results are a central concern and should be a primary line of questioning. The peer environment is diverse, and the school community serves many families navigating economic constraints. What the data shows is a school with real challenges in measured proficiency, set within a city that is actively working on its own renewal.
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