The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 34% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Belmont Middle School
Belmont Middle School sits in the Lakes Region town of Belmont, New Hampshire, serving grades five through eight as part of the Shaker Regional School District. It is a regular public school on School Street, drawing from a community that blends residential neighborhoods with remnants of its mill-town past. The town's village center, clustered around the intersection of two state routes, holds the town offices, the restored Belmont Mill, the public library, and a bandstand. Most of Belmont is car-dependent, with interstate access a short distance away, and the population swells seasonally with visitors drawn to nearby Lake Winnisquam.
The school's enrollment is moderate for a middle school across four grade levels. Its student body is predominantly white, with a small multiracial population and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Just over a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here. A parent wanting to understand special education services or language support may want to ask the school directly.
On New Hampshire's state assessments, the most recent results paint a mixed but broadly readable picture. English language arts is the school's relative strength. Proficiency in fifth and seventh grade lands well above halfway, with seventh grade particularly strong, and even the lower grades clear the midpoint. The eighth-grade ELA result drops to just under half, a pattern worth noting. Mathematics is more uneven. Seventh grade stands out as the strongest year, with a majority of students reaching proficiency, while fifth and sixth grade sit around the middle. Eighth-grade math is the weakest result, with under a third of students proficient. Science, tested in fifth and eighth grade, is the softest subject overall, with fewer than half of students proficient in either grade. A parent may want to look into what happens between seventh and eighth grade, particularly in math and science, where results dip as students approach high school.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is unclear whether these results represent a stable pattern or a one-year snapshot. Participation rates were generally strong across grades and subjects.
Because Belmont Middle School does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school feeds into the broader Shaker Regional district, which also includes Canterbury, though the district brief returned no usable information about recent budget votes, warrant articles, or strategic priorities. That gap means a parent would need to go to the district directly for information about fiscal direction or program changes.
No data was available on program offerings, course access, extracurriculars, discipline, staffing ratios, or attendance. These are substantial gaps. A family evaluating this school should ask about what enrichment, intervention, and elective options exist for students across the four grades, particularly as they prepare for the transition to high school.
The housing market in Belmont is more affordable than the New Hampshire state benchmark, though it sits above national levels. Homes in the area carry a price-to-income ratio that is elevated, reflecting the broader challenge of housing costs relative to earnings in much of New England. Rent data was not available for the area. The town saw its fastest growth in the 1980s and 1990s, with population increases slowing since then. No major new housing developments were identified in publicly reported sources. The community has a zoning ordinance, a master plan, and a capital improvement plan in place, which suggests some intentionality about how growth is managed.
Belmont's employment base leans on healthcare and retail rather than large industry. Belknap Family Health Center, LRGH Belmont Healthcare, and the Belknap Mall are among the town's key anchors, with town government also providing public-sector jobs. The old textile mill that once drove the local economy is long closed, and no large industrial employers were identified.
For a family considering Belmont Middle School, the academic picture is one of solid literacy performance through the middle grades, adequate but uneven math results, and weaker science outcomes. The school's size means students are in cohorts that are neither large nor tiny. The community offers a quiet, car-dependent Lakes Region setting with seasonal variation, civic amenities concentrated in a walkable village core, and housing costs that are somewhat below the state level. What is missing from the available data, including program details, staffing, discipline, and trend information, is considerable enough that a visit to the school and a conversation with administrators would be an important next step.
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