Best Public Schools in Darien, CT

The city of Darien, Connecticut is served by the Darien School District, a 5-star rated district ranked 6th out of 153 statewide, comprising 7 public schools serving grades K-12: Darien High School (9-12), Middlesex Middle School (6-8), and five elementary schools — Ox Ridge Elementary School, Tokeneke Elementary School, Hindley Elementary School, Holmes Elementary School, and Royle Elementary School (K-5) — with a total enrollment of 4,649 students. Every school holds a 5-star rating, reflecting an exceptionally high-performing, well-resourced system. Darien is an affluent community with very low poverty levels; free/reduced lunch eligibility ranges from 0.73% at Hindley to 4.39% at Royle.

Tokeneke Elementary School is the district's top-ranked elementary school, at #6 of 491 in Connecticut for 2025–2026 after climbing from #45 two years earlier, with 5th grade ELA proficiency of 92.1% and 3rd grade ELA of 89.7%. Darien High School ranks #5 of 133 high schools with a 98.3% graduation rate and SAT scores far above state averages (91.4% ELA proficiency vs. 55.3% statewide; 77.2% math vs. 31.3%). Middlesex Middle School ranks #6 of 258 middle schools with 8th grade science proficiency of 85% and the district's best student-teacher ratio at 9.9. Royle Elementary School also stands out at #9 with grade 4 ELA and math scores both at 91.7%.

Elementary rankings shift significantly year to year despite consistently strong performance — Tokeneke jumped from #45 to #6 over three years, while Hindley fell from #8 to #45 and Holmes fluctuated from #28 to #12 to #41. These movements likely reflect small cohort differences rather than school-wide trends; Hindley's 4th grade ELA proficiency was just 65.3% even as its 5th grade reached 88.9%. Spending and staffing do not clearly predict results: Holmes has the lowest per-student spending ($18,876) and highest student-teacher ratio (13.7) yet still ranks in the top 10% statewide, while Middlesex has the highest spending ($21,860). Chronic absenteeism at Middlesex (8.4%) is nearly double the high school's 4.4%, though all schools remain well below the state average of 16.4%.