Summary:
ZIP code 03038 in Derry, New Hampshire, has two middle-level schools serving grades 5–8: West Running Brook Intermediate School for grades 5–6 and Gilbert H. Hood Middle School for grades 7–8, with a combined enrollment of 1,335 students in the Derry Cooperative School District.
West Running Brook Intermediate School has the stronger overall academic profile. It reports 32% proficiency in mathematics, 47% in reading, and 42% in science, compared with 33%, 44%, and 29%, respectively, at Gilbert H. Hood Middle School. West Running Brook’s average proficiency across the three subjects is about 40%, versus 35% at Hood. Its science result is the clearest advantage: 42% is above both the district and state results, while Hood’s 29% is below both. West Running Brook also has a slightly lower student-teacher ratio, 12.0 compared with Hood’s 12.6, although this difference alone does not establish instructional quality.
Gilbert H. Hood Middle School has a small mathematics advantage, but both schools trail the state mathematics proficiency rate of 44%. Grade-level results show lower performance in the later grade at both schools: Hood’s seventh-grade reading proficiency is 47%, falling to 42% in eighth grade, while West Running Brook’s fifth-grade reading result of 52% falls to 42% in sixth grade. Mathematics also declines by three points in the later grade at each school. Families may therefore want to pay particular attention to mathematics progression, later-grade reading support, and science instruction. Both schools are part of a district ranked 131st out of 166 statewide, so districtwide improvement efforts are also relevant.
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