Pierce Elementary School

Pierce Elementary School is a primary school of one-room-style scale in Bennington, New Hampshire, run under Contoocook Valley School District, hosting 55 students in grades K through 4. That puts it 78% leaner than the typical public school in New Hampshire, which averages around 249 students.

Across the 11 schools in Contoocook Valley School District (1,936 students total), Pierce Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Pierce Elementary School records that 98% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The wider county runs roughly 82% White, putting the school's mix considerably more White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 6.6:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 11.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 38% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Hillsborough County runs at roughly 26%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Pierce Elementary School is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 38.8%; this one delivers 53.0%, a residual of +14.2 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Hillsborough County shows median household income runs about $103,545, roughly 42% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Pierce Elementary School is one of 127 public schools in Hillsborough County (combined enrollment of about 53,974 students).

Great Brook School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 2.1 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Pierce Elementary School comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 44.0%.

Pierce Elementary School operates from a rural location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 29%: 77 students in 2018 compared to 55 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 8.6:1 in 2018 to 6.6:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.