The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Richford Elementary School
Richford Elementary School sits in a small rural town on the Canada–U.S. border in Franklin County, Vermont, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Enosburgh-Richford Unified Union School District. The school draws from a community that developed as a rural trading center in the mid-1800s, with a downtown historic district along Main Street and the Missisquoi River. Publicly reported sources describe a town with a modest, stable population, limited economic growth pressure, and a median household income that sits low relative to broader benchmarks. Recent development has centered on flood recovery and restoration of Main Street buildings, including one that now houses a supermarket and apartments.
The school's enrollment is small for its grade band. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding area. The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of Hispanic, multiracial, Black, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those figures are left out here rather than assumed.
On Vermont's Comprehensive Assessment Program, the most recent reported results show a clear gap between English language arts and mathematics. In third grade, fewer than half of tested students reached proficiency in ELA, and that share dropped in fourth and fifth grade. Math results were lower across all three tested grades, with fourth grade showing no students reaching the proficient threshold and fifth grade only slightly above that. Fifth-grade science proficiency was also low. These are reported figures from the state assessment, and they paint a picture of a school where a relatively small share of students are meeting state benchmarks, particularly in math. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking what interventions and supports are in place, especially in the upper elementary grades where the results are most pronounced. Small tested groups can amplify year-to-year swings, so the context matters.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results are improving, declining, or holding steady. Participation rates for the state assessments were also missing from the data provided.
The school does not have a graduation rate, which is expected because it serves only elementary grades. No graduation or high school outcome data applies here. The neighbor comparison set, drawn relative to districts in Franklin County, could not produce a proficiency index, graduation comparison, or absenteeism comparison for this school. The proficiency index was not applicable because the comparison cohort was too small, and the other two metrics were not applicable because the school's values were missing. So there is no positioned comparison against neighboring districts to draw on from this data.
Housing in the area is modest. The typical home value for the school's zip code sits below both the Vermont state benchmark and the national benchmark, and recent year-over-year change was flat to slightly declining. Rental data was not available. The price-to-income ratio for the area is below the national midpoint, which suggests that, relative to local earnings, housing costs may be more manageable here than in much of the country, though incomes themselves are low. No major new housing developments were identified in publicly reported sources, and the town's recent planning focus has been on flood recovery rather than expansion.
The locale brief did not identify current major employers, and the district brief did not surface parent-relevant changes from recent years. No data was available on discipline, course access, staffing, attendance, or chronic absenteeism for the school, so those dimensions are left out. Title I status was also not reported.
What the available picture shows is a small elementary school in a quiet border town, serving a student population with substantial economic need, with state assessment results that indicate real academic challenges, most acutely in mathematics. The community has a historic character and a recreational anchor in the Missisquoi Valley Rail-Trail, but limited economic momentum. For a family considering this school, the most useful next step would be a direct conversation with school staff about how the instructional program addresses the proficiency patterns visible in the state data, and what supports exist for students across all grade levels.
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