The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Science. The lowest is 16% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Fisher School
Fisher School sits on East Arlington Road in the town of Arlington, a small rural community in Vermont's Bennington County. It serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Arlington School District. The town itself stretches along Vermont Route 7A in the Valley of Vermont, with the Taconic Range to the west and the Green Mountains to the east. The Battenkill River, known for its trout fishery, runs through the center of town. Arlington includes the village centers of Arlington, East Arlington, and West Arlington, but the overall layout is car-dependent and low-density. The school building functions as something of a civic anchor in this community; the high school gymnasium nearby hosts Town Meeting and elections, and school life clusters loosely along the 7A corridor rather than on a separated campus.
The school is small for its grade band. Its enrollment is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and Black populations. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which situates Fisher squarely among schools serving a working-class population. Data on individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those dimensions of the student body are not visible here. Arlington's local economy centers on Mack Moulding, the largest employer in town, and on Orvis, headquartered in neighboring Sunderland. No specific information about recent district-level changes turned up in the available search, so there is little to report on strategic shifts or program launches.
On state assessments through the Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program, the most recent results paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, the school shows a clear upward trajectory across grade levels. Third grade lands near the middle of the range, fourth grade is a bit stronger, and fifth grade reaches a level where a clear majority of tested students demonstrated proficiency. That fifth-grade reading result is a genuine bright spot. Science, tested only in fifth grade, also landed in a respectable middle range.
Mathematics is the area where results are weakest. Third and fourth grade math proficiency rates were very low, with only a handful of students in each grade reaching proficiency. Fifth grade math recovered to a more moderate level, but the earlier grades' results suggest that many students are arriving at or progressing through the intermediate grades without solid foundational math skills. A parent looking at Fisher may want to ask the school directly how it is addressing math instruction in the early grades, what interventions or supports are in place, and whether any curricular or staffing changes are underway. Without multi-year trend data, it is hard to say whether these results represent a one-year dip or a persistent pattern.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, course access, discipline, or Title I status. These gaps mean the picture of school climate and resource allocation is incomplete. The neighbor comparison, which would place Fisher among districts in Bennington County, could not be computed for proficiency or other outcome metrics because the cohort was too small or the relevant values were missing.
Arlington's housing market is modest by Vermont standards. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit just below the state benchmark and close to the national figure, and recent movement has been slightly downward. The price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here is somewhat of a stretch relative to national norms but not dramatically so. Rental data was not available. The town's population has grown very slowly over the past two decades, and available research did not identify major new housing developments.
What Fisher offers is a small, community-rooted elementary school in a scenic rural Vermont town where the school is woven into civic life. Families drawn to a close-knit, small-town setting will find that here. The reading and science results in the upper grades are encouraging. The math results in the lower grades are a concern worth pressing on directly with school leadership before making a decision.
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