Best Public Schools in Newport, NH

Newport, New Hampshire, has five schools serving about 795 students from prekindergarten through grade 12 across the Newport School District and Unity School District. The schools include two elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools. Overall, the area offers small-school settings and low student-teacher ratios, but academic rankings and test scores are generally among the lowest in New Hampshire.

Richards Elementary School has the strongest elementary academic profile, with higher reading and science results than Unity Elementary School. Richards reported 30% reading, 19% science, and 14% math proficiency, while Unity reported 22%, 11%, and 16%, respectively. Richards also had the area’s strongest grade-level result: 43% of third graders were proficient in reading. Unity is much smaller, with 86 students, and its recent scores and statewide ranking declined sharply, so year-to-year results may be affected by small class sizes. Newport Middle School showed modest improvement in reading and science and has an especially low 8.1-to-1 student-teacher ratio, although math performance remains weak.

Newport Middle High School stands out for its graduation outcomes. Its 86.5% graduation rate is close to the statewide 87% rate, above the district’s 82.8% rate, and its reported dropout rate is 0%. However, academic proficiency remains low, with 31% reading and 17% science proficiency. Newport SOAR High School is a very small seven-student program with limited available data, so its reported 0% graduation rate should be interpreted cautiously. For families comparing schools, the main concerns are consistently low math and science results, broad districtwide ranking challenges, and Unity’s recent decline; the most encouraging signs are Newport Middle High School’s graduation rate, Richards’ relative elementary strength, and Newport Middle School’s modest improvement.