The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 38% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Hiawatha Elementary School
Hiawatha Elementary School sits in Essex Junction, Vermont, serving prekindergarten through third grade as part of the Essex Westford Educational Community Unified Union School District. It is a neighborhood public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful Asian American presence and smaller shares of multiracial, Hispanic, and Black students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not report Individualized Education Program counts or English learner figures, so those dimensions of student support are not visible in the available data.
Because Hiawatha covers only the early elementary grades, its state testing footprint is limited to third grade, the earliest tested year in Vermont. On the Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program for the most recent reported year, third graders showed stronger performance in English language arts than in mathematics. A majority of tested third graders reached proficiency in ELA, while fewer than half did so in math. The math result is a soft spot a parent may want to ask the school about directly, since early-grade math foundations matter as children move toward upper elementary work. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. Participation rate data was also missing from the state report.
No graduation rate applies here, since Hiawatha does not serve high school grades. The neighbor comparison set, drawn relative to districts in Chittenden County, could not produce a proficiency index because the comparable school cohort was too small. Chronic absenteeism was not reported for this school, and discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance data were all absent. These gaps mean the picture of school climate and operational support is thin from publicly available sources. A family weighing Hiawatha would benefit from asking the district directly about class sizes, specialist staffing, and how the school supports students reading below grade level.
The surrounding community shapes what life at Hiawatha looks like. Essex Junction became Vermont's tenth city in mid-2022 after voters separated from the Town of Essex over longstanding tax disputes that had produced more than twenty failed merger or separation attempts over the prior century. The city grew from a crossroads settlement at Five Corners, which remains the historic and civic heart. Publicly reported sources describe residential neighborhoods within walking distance of downtown, with a transportation terminal that serves both Amtrak and Green Mountain Transit, giving residents rail and bus connections. The city sits close to Interstate 89 and Burlington International Airport.
The local economy is anchored by GlobalFoundries' semiconductor fabrication plant, reported as the largest private employer in Vermont. Other major employers of Essex Junction residents include the University of Vermont Medical Center, the University of Vermont, Saint Michael's College, General Dynamics, and the State of Vermont. The Champlain Valley Exposition, described as the state's largest indoor and outdoor event venue, hosts the Champlain Valley Fair and brings large seasonal crowds. These civic and economic anchors give the area a mix of technology-sector employment, higher education ties, and regional event activity that is unusual for a city of this size.
Housing in the school's zip code runs well above both the Vermont and national benchmarks for typical home values, reflecting the broader Chittenden County market near Burlington. Rents are also elevated relative to state norms, though renting remains less costly monthly than carrying a mortgage at current rates. For families considering the area, this means the housing market is competitive and on the pricier side for Vermont, which may factor into decisions about the community even though it sits outside the school's academic profile.
Within the district, Hiawatha feeds into a clear elementary-to-secondary pathway. Students move to Thomas Fleming School for grades four and five, then Albert D. Lawton School for grades six through nine, and on to Essex High School. The Center for Technology, Essex, described as Vermont's largest secondary technical education facility, offers career and technical pathways at the high school level. This distributed structure means Hiawatha families are choosing not just a school but the first step in a continuous local pipeline through graduation, with specialized technical options available later.
What Hiawatha offers is an early-childhood-through-third-grade foundation in a walkable, economically diverse small city with strong regional transit and major employer presence. Its ELA results are a clear strength; its math results warrant a closer conversation with the school. The missing data on special populations, staffing, and attendance leaves real questions unanswered from public sources alone, and a family doing due diligence would want to fill those in directly.
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