The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Science. The lowest is 45% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Middlebury Id #4 School
Middlebury ID #4 School is the public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the town of Middlebury, the shire town and commercial center of Addison County. It sits on Mary Hogan Drive and operates within the Addison Central Unified Union School District. The enrollment is moderately sized for a Vermont elementary school, with a notably large pre-kindergarten cohort that accounts for a substantial portion of the student body. The school community is predominantly white, reflecting the broader demographics of Addison County, with small representation from other racial and ethnic groups. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Because the school serves only the elementary band, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade range, not a missing outcome. State testing applies to grades three through five, and those results are available for the most recent school year.
On Vermont's statewide assessment, English language arts results are the stronger area. Fourth and fifth graders showed solid proficiency, with a clear majority of tested students meeting the standard. Third grade lagged behind the upper grades in ELA, a pattern that can reflect the transition into tested grades. Math results were more mixed, hovering below half of tested students reaching proficiency across all three grades, with fifth grade the strongest of the three. Science was tested only in fifth grade, and a majority of those students demonstrated proficiency. Participation rates were not reported, so it is not possible to assess how completely the tested population represents the school's enrollment. A parent weighing these results may want to ask the school how it supports students who are approaching proficiency, particularly in math across the upper elementary grades.
The school does not report data on English learners or students with individualized education programs, so the picture of special populations is incomplete. Civil-rights data, course access, staffing, attendance, and discipline information were also not available. These are gaps in what is provided rather than signs of absence at the school itself.
Middlebury itself is a distinctive setting for a family. It blends a college-town identity with its role as the regional commercial hub for Addison County. Middlebury College, an elite liberal arts institution, sits just southwest of the village center and shapes the town's cultural and economic life. Porter Medical Center is the other major employer. Downtown is walkable and historically rich, centered on the Village Green and the Otter Creek falls, with shops, restaurants, a public library, a museum of Vermont history, and a movie theater. A retail corridor along U.S. Route 7 south of downtown adds practical convenience with supermarkets, drugstores, and other services. Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express returned to Middlebury in 2022, restoring a rail connection north to Burlington and south to New York City. Local bus service and a regional airport round out the transportation picture. Publicly reported sources note a new bridge over Otter Creek that eased downtown traffic, though the same sources did not surface information about major new housing developments.
The housing market here runs above both the Vermont and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's zip code sit well higher than the state midpoint, and the estimated monthly mortgage cost reflects current interest rates that remain elevated. For a family considering buying, the price-to-income ratio suggests a market that is less affordable than the national picture. Rental data was not available, so the rental side of the market cannot be characterized here. Families reliant on rental housing may want to look into local listings directly, since the data provided does not cover that segment.
Among Addison County districts, the comparison set was too small to generate a proficiency index for this school, and graduation and chronic-absenteeism comparisons do not apply to an elementary school. So this school cannot be positioned against its county peers on those terms from the available data.
What emerges is an elementary school in a culturally rich, walkable college town with a strong commercial base and regional transit links. Academic results show real strength in English language arts and science, with math as the area where fewer students are reaching proficiency. The pre-kindergarten program is large relative to the rest of the school, which may appeal to families looking for an early-entry option. Families considering this school would benefit from asking directly about math instruction, special-population services, and how the school supports students across the proficiency range, since several of those data points were not available in what was provided.
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