The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lionheart Classical Academy Chartered Public School
Lionheart Classical Academy is a young charter public school in Peterborough, New Hampshire, opened in the fall of 2022 as a no-tuition, open-enrollment option for families drawn to a classical liberal arts education grounded in civic virtues. The school began serving kindergarten through fifth grade and has been adding a grade each year, with public filings indicating plans to grow into a full kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade school by the end of the decade. A waitlist already exists, and the school has sought state approval to expand enrollment to accommodate demand. For now, the published grade band runs through sixth grade, though state testing data includes a seventh-grade cohort as well.
Peterborough itself is a historic mill town along the Contoocook River with a strong arts identity and an entrepreneurial character. Publicly reported sources describe roughly a third of the local workforce as home-based entrepreneurs or remote workers, and the town supports a diffuse economy of small manufacturers, clean-energy firms, and cultural institutions rather than any single dominant employer. The MacDowell Colony, the Peterborough Players, and a monthly First Friday gallery scene give the village center a cultural life unusual for a town of this size. The town is aging and losing population slowly, with no fixed-route public transit. Housing in the school's zip code sits above the national benchmark but below the New Hampshire state benchmark, and mortgage rates remain elevated, so buyers moving here for the school should expect a competitive regional market without the premium of the state's priciest areas.
Lionheart's enrollment is small for its grade band, with roughly even distribution across grades. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small representation from other racial or ethnic groups. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is low, suggesting a relatively affluent population compared with many public schools. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so a parent whose child receives special education services or English-language support may want to ask the school directly how those needs are met.
Academically, the most recent New Hampshire state assessment results show a mixed and uneven picture. In English language arts, proficiency rises from a low mark in third grade to a stronger showing in fourth and fifth, then settles to a middling level in sixth and seventh. The fifth-grade ELA result is the school's strongest performance, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. In mathematics, the pattern runs the other direction: third and fourth grade land near or above the midpoint, but proficiency drops steadily in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade, with the seventh-grade math result being the weakest. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows about a third of students proficient. Participation rates are generally strong across grades and subjects. No multi-year trend data was available, which is expected given the school only opened recently and has only a couple of testing cycles behind it. The declining math results in the upper grades are the clearest soft spot in the data, and a parent considering Lionheart for an older elementary student may want to look into how the school is addressing math instruction as the classical model extends upward.
Because Lionheart does not yet serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate or advanced coursework data to report; those measures simply do not apply yet. The same is true for college and career readiness indicators. As the school adds grades in coming years, these data points will begin to appear.
The school sits within a town where the public schools operate on separate campuses under the Contoocook Valley School District, and there is also a private Pre-K-through-eighth-grade option in town. Lionheart gives families a third public path, one defined by its classical curriculum and emphasis on civic virtue rather than by a magnet theme or specialized program. No information on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, or attendance was available in the data provided, so those areas remain gaps a parent would need to fill through direct conversation with the school.
What Lionheart offers today is a small, homogeneous, classically oriented charter school in a culturally rich small town, still finding its footing academically as it grows. Families drawn to the classical model and the civic-virtues framing, and who are comfortable with a young institution still building its upper-grade capacity, will find a distinct option here. Those prioritizing demonstrated math outcomes in the upper elementary years should weigh the current results carefully.
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