The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Derby Elementary School
Derby Elementary School sits in the village of Derby Line, a small border community in Orleans County where Vermont meets Quebec. The village is compact, defined by residential streets, a cutting-tools factory owned by the France-based Tivoly group, and the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a landmark straddling the international line. Interstate 91 and US Route 5 both terminate here at the Canadian border. The area has seen long-term population decline, and no major new housing or commercial construction surfaced in publicly reported sources. Home values in the local market run well below both the Vermont and national benchmarks, which may appeal to families seeking affordability, though current mortgage rates sit elevated nationally.
The school serves prekindergarten through sixth grade and draws from the broader town of Derby. Its enrollment is sizable for the grade band in a county of small districts. The student body is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations and a handful of Black students. A substantial share of children qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the modest income levels that publicly reported data show for the village. Information on individualized education plans and English learner status was not available in the data provided, so those population breakdowns cannot be characterized here.
On Vermont's state assessments, the most striking pattern is the climb in proficiency from the lower to upper elementary grades. Third-grade math proficiency is quite low, with only a small fraction of tested students reaching the proficient threshold. Fourth grade improves modestly, fifth grade rises further, and by sixth grade more than half of tested students are proficient. The same upward trajectory appears in English language arts, though the starting point in third grade is higher than in math. Sixth-grade ELA proficiency reaches a level where a majority of students meet the standard. Science is tested only in fifth grade, and about a third of those students scored proficient.
What this means is that students who stay in the school through the upper grades appear to be substantially better prepared than the early-grade results would suggest on their own. Whether this reflects effective instruction in the later years, earlier cohorts struggling with foundational skills, or some combination is something a parent may want to look into further with the school. The data shows a single year of results with no multi-year trend available, so it is not possible to say whether this pattern is stable over time or specific to this cohort.
Because Derby Elementary does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, which is expected for a school ending at sixth grade. The same applies to AP or career-pathway measures. Data on staffing ratios, course access, chronic absenteeism, and discipline was not provided, so those dimensions of school environment cannot be described. The school is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet. Title I status was not reported in the available data.
The neighbor comparison set for this school is the districts of Orleans County, a small rural county where comparable benchmarks are thin. Proficiency index comparisons across the county cohort were not applicable due to the small number of comparable entities, and graduation and attendance comparisons were not available because the relevant values were missing for this school. So while the county provides some context, a reader should not treat the absence of comparative ratings as a signal of weakness. It reflects the limited comparison pool in a small rural county and the elementary-only grade band.
The district brief turned up no publicly reported parent-relevant changes in recent years beyond basic directory and demographic information. That means families considering this school have little to go on regarding recent strategic shifts, program additions, or facility changes from the district level. Contacting the Derby School District directly would be the way to fill that gap.
For a family weighing Derby Elementary, the academic picture is mixed but directionally encouraging in the upper grades. The housing market is relatively affordable compared with the state overall. The community is small, rural, and shaped by its border location and manufacturing base. What is missing from the data is as important as what is present, and a visit or call to the school would help clarify staffing, support services, and whether the grade-to-grade proficiency climb holds across multiple years.
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