The top reported proficiency rate is 87% in Science. The lowest is 69% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on New Hope-solebury Ms
New Hope-Solebury Middle School serves grades six through eight in a small downtown New Hope campus in Bucks County. The school sits within one of Pennsylvania's most distinctive residential landscapes: a compact, historic borough centered on arts, tourism, and hospitality rather than suburban sprawl, with a walkable downtown where the school, library, playhouse, and shops occupy the same streets. This setting shapes the community and the student peer group.
The school enrolls a small to mid-sized cohort for a middle school. The population is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic and Asian students and a very low representation of Black students. About one in seven students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that while the district sits in an affluent area overall, economic diversity exists within the enrollment. Specific counts for students with disabilities or English learners were not available.
Academic performance is solid. On the 2024-25 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, students achieved proficiency rates of about three-quarters in English language arts and roughly two-thirds in mathematics. Science proficiency, measured in the prior year, was markedly stronger at around four-fifths. Against other districts in Bucks County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, a meaningful position in an affluent county with generally strong results. This profile suggests competent instruction and student engagement, though the math figure reflects a real gap that a parent may want to look into further with the school.
The New Hope-Solebury School District operates a distinctive two-campus elementary model, with grades K-2 in Solebury and grades 3-5 in New Hope, a structure any family entering the district will experience from kindergarten forward. The district has pursued consecutive annual property tax increases in recent years to cover rising operational costs and compensation. For families weighing whether to buy into the area, these sustained tax pressures are part of the housing calculus.
Housing in the New Hope zip code reflects both the area's appeal and its cost. Median home values are substantially above both state and national benchmarks, with year-over-year appreciation continuing. Rental prices run high as well, and the rent-to-income affordability ratio suggests that housing costs consume a meaningful share of household income in the area. The borough itself is built-out and mostly infill, with new construction trending toward downtown renovation and high-end estate homes in surrounding Solebury Township rather than tract development.
The environment a student enters at the middle school is shaped by the downtown location itself. The school sits within a tight civic, cultural, and commercial cluster: the library, playhouse, canal towpath, and shops are walking distance. There is no isolated campus. This differs markedly from suburban middle schools in separate buildings on larger grounds, and it ties student life to a place with real civic identity. At the same time, New Hope is a tourist destination where weekenders and visitors drive much of daily activity, a dynamic that colors the everyday texture of the town and anyone attending school there.
No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staff size, or course-level offerings were available for this school. State testing data for prior years and long-term trend information were also not provided, so a clearer picture of performance trajectory over time is not possible from the available record.
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