Enrollment
328
Elementary
DISTRICT 231 · STATE 249
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTSMOUTH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 330582000373
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School
32 Van Buren Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 · (603) 436-2231 · Rockingham County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL328 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 96% of New Hampshire public elementary schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded New Hampshire public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
9.4:1
35 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 7.9:1 · STATE 11.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
14%
45 students
DISTRICT 18% · STATE 26%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 45 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 57 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 56 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 48 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 50 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 72 | 22% |
This year's kindergarten class (45) is 38% smaller than its 5th grade class (72).
Student demographics
47%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 37% · STATE 33% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Portsmouth School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
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START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
NHSAS 2024-25 . % Above ProficientEnglish Language Arts
82.0%
NH avg 55.2%
Math
80.0%
NH avg 43.0%
What this means: On the NHSAS, New Hampshire's statewide test, about 82 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 80 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New Hampshire schools, those numbers are about 55 and 43.
Source: NHSAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NH schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
75.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.7%
based on NH schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+20.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 76% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 55% typical for New Hampshire schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 21 points, placing it in New Hampshire's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Mary C. Dondero Elementary School
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School's state test result (75.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary C. Dondero Elementary School this school | 328 | 13.7% | 75.6% |
| Peter Woodbury School Bedford | 428 | 7.5% | 83.2% |
| Frances G. Hopkins Elementary School at Horne Street Dover | 412 | 22.1% | 59.8% |
| Bernice A. Ray School Hanover | 463 | 3.7% | 77.1% |
| Hanover Street School Lebanon | 316 | 25.3% | 61.0% |
| Memorial School Bedford | 439 | 11.6% | N/A |
Matched among New Hampshire elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Mary C. Dondero Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Hampshire | In Rockingham County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 75.6% | #12 of 209 | #4 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 80.0% | #10 of 209 | #3 of 45 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 82.0% | #6 of 210 | #2 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 328 | #96 of 300 | #30 of 59 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 9.4:1 | #23 of 179 | #8 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 47.2% | #31 of 181 | #2 of 47 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 13.7% | #174 of 240 | #22 of 54 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +13.9% | #9 of 37 | #4 of 14 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
328
+9 (+3%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 456
Student : Teacher
9.4:1
was 10.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 328 | 35 | 9.4:1 | 14% (45) |
| 2023-24 | 337 | 29.8 | 11.3:1 | 13% (45) |
| 2022-23 | 323 | 32 | 10.1:1 | 18% (59) |
| 2020-21 | 319 | 31 | 10.3:1 | 13% (43) |
| 2017-18 | 288 | 29.8 | 9.7:1 | 21% (60) |
| 2015-16 | 298 | 29 | 10.3:1 | 24% (71) |
| 2010-11 | 307 | 29 | 10.6:1 | 25% (77) |
| 2000-01 | 475 | 28 | 17.0:1 | 16% (75) |
| 1990-91 | 456 | 21 | 21.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mary C. Dondero Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 14% (288 to 328); teachers up 17% (29.8 to 35).
About Mary C. Dondero Elementary School
Federal records list Mary C. Dondero Elementary School as an elementary school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is open to students in kindergarten through 5 and enrolls 328 students. Elementary schools in New Hampshire have about 249 students on average; enrollment here is 32% higher.
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is run by Portsmouth School District, whose 6 schools enroll 2,427 students.
More than half of the students at Mary C. Dondero Elementary School are White (71%). Other reported shares: 12% Asian, 6% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 4% Black. That compares with about 91% White among all Rockingham County residents. The diversity index for Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is 47%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School reported 35 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, a ratio of 9.4:1. By comparison, the average for elementary schools in New Hampshire is 11.0:1. There are 45 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 14% of enrollment. The average for public schools in Rockingham County is similar, at 13%.
Among New Hampshire public elementary schools, Mary C. Dondero Elementary School outscored 96%, which works out to an A+ on the allk12 Grade.
Compared with New Hampshire schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Mary C. Dondero Elementary School does better than predicted by 20.9 points. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 75.6%; the prediction is 54.7%.
In Rockingham County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $118,331, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 3% of residents are in poverty. There are 99 public schools in the county, enrolling about 41,753, Mary C. Dondero Elementary School among them.
About 0.9 miles separate Mary C. Dondero Elementary School from the closest public school, Rye Elementary School. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is 4th of 7 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
The NCES locale for Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is Suburb: Small, which covers schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 3% rise, from 319 to 328.
On allk12, people connected to Mary C. Dondero Elementary School can post about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Rockingham County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
319,082
Census ACS
Median income
$118,331
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
99
41,753 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Portsmouth School District
- Portsmouth High SchoolHigh · 1,017 students
- Portsmouth Middle SchoolMiddle · 486 students
- Little Harbour SchoolElementary · 325 students
- New Franklin SchoolElementary · 247 students
- PEEP School - Pre School ProgramElementary · 24 students
Other schools in Portsmouth
- Portsmouth High SchoolHigh · 1,017 students
- Portsmouth Middle SchoolMiddle · 486 students
- Little Harbour SchoolElementary · 325 students
- New Franklin SchoolElementary · 247 students
- PEEP School - Pre School ProgramElementary · 24 students
Nearby schools
- Rye Elementary School0.9 mi · 211
- Portsmouth High School1.5 mi · 1,017
- Rye Junior High School1.6 mi · 175
- PEEP School - Pre School Program2.1 mi · 24
- Little Harbour School2.1 mi · 325
- Portsmouth Middle School2.5 mi · 486
Frequently asked questions
About Mary C. Dondero Elementary SchoolHow large is Mary C. Dondero Elementary School?
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School enrolls approximately 328 students in grades KG-05.
Is Mary C. Dondero Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Mary C. Dondero Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is approximately 9.4:1 (35 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Mary C. Dondero Elementary School?
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School reports a student body of 71% White, 6% Hispanic, 4% Black, 12% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Mary C. Dondero Elementary School?
Mary C. Dondero Elementary School is overseen by Portsmouth School District in Rockingham County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.