Summary:
Swift River is the only elementary school in the New Salem-Wendell district, serving grades PK–6 at 201 Wendell Rd in New Salem with 134 students. Because it is the area's sole elementary school, the useful comparisons are between Swift River and district and state results — and in this data the district's MCAS figures match the school's exactly, so district performance effectively means Swift River's performance.
Science is the school's clearest strength. In 2025–2026, all-grades science proficiency was 55% versus the state's 40.98%, and grade 5 science was 55% versus 43.07%; in 2024–2025 science was 52.63% versus 41.51%. Since science is usually tested in grade 5, this likely reflects a strong grade-5 result rather than a school-wide trend. Other favorable data points include a student-teacher ratio of 9.1 in 2024–2025 and per-pupil spending of $24,376 in 2020–2021. ELA and math are the challenges: 2025–2026 all-grades ELA was 28% versus the state's 40.03%, and math was 29.33% versus 41.11%. The weakest grade-level result was grade 6 math at 17.65% versus the state's 42.59%, with grade 6 ELA at 23.53% versus 40.26%. The closest to state were grade 3 math at 40% versus 42.19% and grade 5 ELA at 35% versus 38.15%.
Swift River has held 2 stars and roughly the 30th–34th percentile for three years, ranking 601 of 899 in 2025–2026, 631 of 906 in 2024–2025, and 607 of 916 in 2023–2024 — stable rather than sharply rising or falling. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, math rose 3.36 points, science 2.37 points, and ELA slipped 0.95 points. With only 134 students, grade-level percentages can swing on a few students, so year-to-year changes should be read cautiously. The 2024–2025 free/reduced-lunch figure is not provided, so no conclusion about economic need should be drawn from it.
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