Best Public Schools in Madison, CT

Madison, Connecticut, is served by the Madison School District, which includes three high-performing public schools enrolling about 1,653 students total: Dr. Robert H. Brown Elementary School (PK–5), Walter C. Polson Middle School (6–8), and Daniel Hand High School (9–12). The district ranks 5th out of 153 Connecticut districts (97th percentile) and holds a 5-star rating. Free/reduced-price lunch rates are very low, between 4.16% and 6.47%, indicating a relatively affluent community.

Every school in the district ranks among the top 10% of its school type statewide. Daniel Hand High School ranks 8th out of 133 high schools with a 98.4% graduation rate, well above the state's 91.2%, and strong SAT proficiency in ELA (80.2%) and science (77.3%). Walter C. Polson Middle School ranks 8th out of 258 middle schools (97th percentile), with math proficiency 33–41 points above state averages and chronic absenteeism of just 4.5%. Dr. Robert H. Brown Elementary School ranks 19th out of 491 elementary schools (96th percentile), improving from 41st last year; its 5th-grade science proficiency is 86%, and it has the district's lowest chronic absenteeism at 3.1%.

Relative to its own strong performance, Daniel Hand's math proficiency (66.1%) is its weakest subject, trailing its ELA by 14 points. Polson saw notable year-over-year declines, including 6th-grade math dropping from 86.7% to 77.3% and 8th-grade ELA falling 4.8 points. At Brown Elementary, 3rd-grade ELA (75.7%) is the only school-level score below the district average, though still far above the state's 47.3%. Per-student spending is high across all schools, ranging from $20,275 at Daniel Hand to $21,922 at Brown. Chronic absenteeism rises slightly with grade level but remains dramatically below the statewide 16.4% rate. Families should monitor high school math and middle school proficiency trends, but overall Madison is an exceptionally strong district by nearly every measure.