Summary:
Norwich, Connecticut is served by 12 public schools—7 elementary, 2 middle, and 3 high schools—enrolling about 6,088 students in a high-poverty urban area where most schools belong to the Norwich School District, a district ranked near the bottom of Connecticut. Overall, academic proficiency is below state averages, especially in math, but the city contains several bright spots and wide variation between schools.
For parents, the standout elementary school is Thomas W. Mahan School, which ranks at the 48th percentile statewide despite a 72% poverty rate; its 3rd grade math proficiency of 73.5% far exceeds the state average of 52.2%. In contrast, John B. Stanton School ranks at the 4th percentile, with 4th grade math at just 10.7%, while Uncas Elementary School has the district’s lowest chronic absenteeism (4.2%) but very low test scores. Integrated Day Charter School stands out for strong middle school ELA—7th grade at 67.4% versus the state’s 52.2%—and the lowest spending per student. Among middle schools, Kelly STEAM Magnet Middle School and Teachers' Memorial Middle School both lag badly, with 8th grade math proficiency between 13.8% and 26.5%, far below the state’s 41.9%.
At the high school level, Three Rivers Middle College Magnet School is a small early-college option that leads the city in test scores, with an 11th grade ELA rate of 65.9% and math at 31.7%, matching the state average, plus a 95.9% graduation rate. Norwich Technical High School boasts the highest graduation rate (99.3%) and excellent science proficiency (62.7%) but struggles in SAT math (7.7%). Norwich Free Academy, the largest school, graduates 92.2% of students but posts only 22.2% math proficiency. All three high schools exceed the state graduation average of 91.2%, yet math remains the city’s biggest weakness. While poverty is widespread, Mahan and Integrated Day prove that strong outcomes are possible—making school-level practices, not demographics, the key factor for parents to investigate.
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