The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Summit Street School
Summit Street School sits in Essex Junction, a community that recently became Vermont's newest city after separating from the Town of Essex in 2022. The school serves prekindergarten through third grade, making it one of the early-childhood entry points in the Essex Westford Educational Community Unified Union School District. Families who choose Summit Street are placing their youngest children in a school focused on the foundational years before students move on to upper elementary and secondary schools elsewhere in the district.
Essex Junction itself has a distinct identity within Chittenden County. The GlobalFoundries semiconductor plant, the largest private employer in Vermont, dominates the local economy and gives the city an industrial character unusual for a small Vermont community. The historic Five Corners intersection and the Pearl Street commercial corridor form a walkable downtown that has seen substantial federally funded restoration. An Amtrak station and Green Mountain Transit bus terminal anchor the civic center, and the Champlain Valley Exposition brings large crowds for the state's biggest fair. Residential neighborhoods surround this core, and the city website describes residents as living within walking distance of downtown. Schools are distributed throughout the community rather than clustered on a single campus, with several district schools located in Essex Junction alongside neighbors in Essex Town and Westford.
Summit Street's enrollment skews heavily toward its prekindergarten program, which accounts for the largest single grade band in the building. Kindergarten through third grade make up the remainder, with class sizes that feel manageable for early elementary. The student body is predominantly white, with the next largest group being Asian students, followed by smaller proportions of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, below what many urban schools see but enough to indicate some economic diversity. The school did not report data on students with individualized education programs or English learners, so a parent wanting to understand special education or language support services would need to ask the school directly.
On Vermont's Comprehensive Assessment Program, only third graders are tested, and Summit Street's results offer a snapshot rather than a full portrait. In English language arts, a slim majority of third graders reached proficiency. In math, somewhat fewer than half did. These are single-year results from one grade level, so they give a limited read on academic outcomes. There is no multi-year trend data available, and the school's grade band means there are no graduation rates, no advanced coursework, and no secondary-level metrics to report. The county-level comparison set could not position Summit Street's proficiency against other Chittenden County districts because the comparable cohort was too small to generate a meaningful index. This is a function of how the comparison works for early-grade schools, not a reflection on the school itself.
The housing market around Summit Street is typical of Chittenden County, with home values above both the state and national benchmarks. Rents are also elevated compared to much of Vermont. For families considering a move into the attendance area, the cost of housing is a real factor, and the price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here requires a solid household income. Rental costs are somewhat more approachable relative to local incomes than purchase prices, though both sit above state norms. Essex Junction's separation from Essex Town was driven partly by tax-bur disputes, and the fiscal landscape is still settling.
What Summit Street offers is a small, early-grade school in a community with a strong employment base, walkable amenities, and transit access. The academic data available is thin by nature of the grade band, and several categories families often ask about, including discipline, staffing, attendance, and program offerings, were not reported. A parent weighing this school should treat the third-grade test results as one small piece and ask the school directly about support services, class composition, and how students transition to the upper-grade schools in the district.
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