The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Barstow Memorial School
Barstow Memorial School sits in Chittenden, a deeply rural Rutland County town that holds the distinction of being the largest municipality in Vermont by land area. That statistic can mislead. A Green Mountains ridge splits the town, and only the western half is settled, with much of the eastern side remaining unbroken forest within the Green Mountain National Forest. Settlement clusters around two small villages, Chittenden and North Chittenden, and the built environment is scattered rural homes along mountain roads. There is no walkable downtown, no street life to speak of, and the nearest urban center, Rutland, sits about eight miles to the south. Maple syrup and Christmas tree production are local agricultural mainstays, and the town's hospitality businesses, Mountain Top Inn and Fox Creek Inn, are among the few commercial anchors. Most working residents likely commute to Rutland or other nearby employment centers. The town saw a slight population decline between recent censuses, and a Town Plan was adopted in late 2023, but no major housing developments or commercial expansion projects surfaced in available sources.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and is the town's single school, functioning as both an educational institution and a community anchor. It is a small school, with each grade band carrying only a handful of students. The tested grades on the Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program each had under twenty test-takers, which is why several grade-level results were suppressed for privacy. Where results are reported, they paint an uneven but overall promising picture, particularly in the upper grades. Eighth-grade English language arts proficiency was remarkably strong, with nearly all tested students meeting the proficiency bar. Eighth-grade math and science were also strong, with solid majorities proficient in both subjects. Fifth-grade science showed a moderate share proficient, and fourth-grade English language arts was at about the midpoint. Fourth-grade math was the clear soft spot, with only a small fraction of tested students reaching proficiency. A parent looking at these results should keep the tiny class sizes in mind, since a few students either way shifts the picture sharply. The suppressed grades mean the data cannot tell a complete story, and the school may be able to share more about how those cohorts are progressing. We looked for multi-year trend data and found none available, so there is no way to characterize whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability.
The student body is predominantly white, with small representation across Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a moderate level for a rural Vermont community. Data on special education enrollment and English learner populations was not available, so we cannot characterize those supports. The school is not a charter or magnet school. Title I status was not reported. Information on staffing, course access, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism was not available in the provided data.
Because Barstow Memorial does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing outcome. We also looked for program offerings and found none listed, so we cannot describe extracurriculars, dual-credit pathways, or specialized programs. A parent would want to ask the school directly about what enrichment, arts, or athletic opportunities are available given the small scale.
On the comparison fact-set, Barstow was placed relative to districts in Rutland County, a set of fourteen districts. The proficiency index was not applicable because the cohort of comparable schools was too small. Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism comparisons were also not applicable because those values were missing for this school. So there is no county-level positioning to report on academic performance.
Housing in the area runs below the Vermont state benchmark and close to the national figure, with typical home values in a moderate range for the region. Rent data was not available. With mortgage rates elevated, the monthly cost of ownership is meaningful relative to local incomes, though Chittenden's rural character and lack of development pressure mean buyers are largely looking at existing scattered homes rather than new construction. The town's minimal growth trajectory suggests the housing market is quiet rather than competitive.
For a family considering Barstow Memorial, the school offers a small, rural, community-rooted setting where children stay through eighth grade in a single building. The upper-grade academic results are genuinely strong, especially in English language arts. The fourth-grade math result is worth a direct conversation with the school. And the many suppressed data points mean the full academic picture remains incomplete, which is inherent to a school this size rather than a signal of concern.
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