New Hampshire Schools

    New Hampshire was ranked 15 out of 50 in the Smartest State rankings for the 2005-06 school year, moving down one spot from the 2004-05 school year. The Smartest State rankings are based on factors such as student performance, personal attention from teachers, and positive outcomes from changes. New Hampshire has a small student to teacher ratio of just over 13 students in every classroom.

During the 2006 standardized No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) testing, 184 out of 457 schools reported did not make their AYP requirements in at least one area. Students are tested in their grade’s basic math and reading, and schools are required to have a certain percentage of students in each grade take the test. Attendance and graduation rates are also included in the AYP. Some schools and districts were not included in New Hampshire’s 2006 report card because they do not enroll enough students to make the federal reporting requirements.

Testing showed a total of 91 schools designated as “In Need of Improvement.” Schools in need of improvement get federal money in addition to the state education budget to help provide free or reduced-price lunches for low-income students, free after-school tutoring, and other measures to help test scores raise.

In the 2005-06 school year, New Hampshire spent over $2 billion in state funding for K-12 education. In addition, the state was given $73 million in federal funding and grants for under-funded schools in 2006.

However, New Hampshire’s SAT scores are continually above the national average. Over 80% of New Hampshire’s high school students took the SAT in 2006, and averaged 11 points higher than the national average in all three sections—Critical Reading, Math, and Writing.

For more information on the state’s progress or to check specific information for your own school district, visit New Hampshire’s Department of Education website at http://www.ed.state.nh.us.