Summary:
The Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) district is home to just one elementary school — Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School in Hamden, Connecticut — which serves grades K-8 with 509 students, making it an unusual elementary-with-middle-school structure within a cooperative district serving the greater New Haven area.
As the only school in the district, Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School is the sole focus. It has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.2, but it spends an exceptionally high $27,106 per student (2018-2019) while ranking in the bottom 10-12% of Connecticut elementary schools, earning a 0-star rating in the two most recent years. The school's state rank slipped from 438th in 2023-2024 to 449th in 2024-2025 and 447th in 2025-2026. A majority of students (54.4%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and chronic absenteeism affects 23.9% of students — well above the state average of 16.4%, though below the ACES district average of 30.7%.
Academically, proficiency at Wintergreen trails state averages by wide margins in every subject. In 2025-2026, only 9.8% of 3rd graders met the math standard versus 52.2% statewide, and ELA proficiency ranged from 18.0% in 3rd grade to 27.8% in 8th grade, compared with state levels of 47–54%. Math is the weakest subject, with just 10% of 5th graders and 10.5% of 6th graders proficient in 2024-2025. Science offers modest good news: 5th grade proficiency improved from 20% to 27.4%, and 8th grade reached 29.6%. The school occasionally beats the ACES district average in early grades (e.g., 4th grade ELA and math), but falls behind in middle grades, suggesting a transition dip. High spending, high absenteeism, and majority-poverty enrollment remain powerful headwinds for this school.
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