Best Public Schools in Fairfield, CT

Fairfield, Connecticut, is served by the Fairfield School District, which includes 15 schools — 10 elementary, 3 middle, and 2 high schools — educating roughly 8,419 students in a coastal suburban community. The district ranks 21st out of 153 Connecticut districts, placing it in the 86th percentile with a 4-star rating. While the district overall is high-performing, there is meaningful variation among its schools in test performance, poverty levels, attendance, and funding.

Fairfield Ludlowe High School is the academic leader among the district's two high schools, ranking #7 out of 133 Connecticut high schools with a 95.7% graduation rate and SAT proficiency rates far above state averages (84.9% in ELA, 61.4% in math). Fairfield Warde High School has no recent ranking data but posts the district's highest graduation rate at 96.9%. Among middle schools, Roger Ludlowe Middle School is the clear standout at #11 in the state with roughly 81% math proficiency across grades 6–8, while Tomlinson Middle School trails at #79 with about 60% math proficiency. At the elementary level, Sherman School leads at #15 statewide with exceptional math scores, followed closely by Riverfield, Dwight, Osborn Hill, and Jennings — all ranked among the top 36 elementary schools in Connecticut. The most challenged school is McKinley School at #177, which serves a substantially higher share of economically disadvantaged students.

Several patterns stand out. Math is consistently the weakest subject districtwide, with proficiency trailing English Language Arts at every level — a gap especially pronounced at the high schools. Chronic absenteeism rises with grade level, from 5.44% at elementary schools to 7.53% at middle schools and 10.95% at high schools, though every Fairfield school remains well below the 16.4% state average. Notably, higher spending and smaller classes do not automatically produce better outcomes: Tomlinson spends the most per student among middle schools yet earns the lowest test scores, while Sherman spends relatively little yet ranks near the top. Finally, momentum varies widely — Riverfield jumped from #84 to #23 and Stratfield improved from #175 to #96, while Tomlinson and Holland Hill have slipped over the past two years.