Summary:
The Derry Cooperative School District has four elementary schools serving students in kindergarten through fourth grade: Ernest P. Barka Elementary School, East Derry Memorial Elementary School, Grinnell School, and South Range Elementary School. Together, they enroll about 1,544 students in the Derry area, with generally similar student–teacher ratios of approximately 11 to 13 students per teacher. Current SchoolDigger rankings place the schools between the 18th and 39th percentiles statewide.
South Range Elementary School is the current academic leader, particularly in mathematics, with 52% overall proficiency and the highest third-grade math result at 56%. Ernest P. Barka Elementary School follows in math at 48% and has the district’s strongest fourth-grade math performance at 53%; it is also the largest school, serving 485 students. East Derry Memorial Elementary School has the strongest recent reading and math history, including 49% fourth-grade reading proficiency, but its latest scores declined noticeably. Its current overall results are 45% in math and 46% in reading.
Reading is the main area of concern across the district. The schools’ average reading proficiency is about 43%, well below the statewide rate of 55%, while average mathematics proficiency is approximately 46%, slightly above the state rate. Grinnell School has the lowest current results, with 40% math and 38% reading proficiency, although its math score improved from the prior year. Families comparing schools may view South Range as the strongest current option academically, Barka as a larger school with solid math results, East Derry as a school with strong historical performance but recent volatility, and Grinnell as the school needing the most comprehensive support, especially in literacy.
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