Summary:
The Booker T. Washington Academy District is a single-school district in New Haven, CT, serving 404 students in grades K-8 at Booker T. Washington Academy, a high-poverty urban school where 92% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because this district contains only one school, the school's performance is the district's performance. The school currently ranks 326th out of 491 Connecticut elementary schools (34th percentile), earning a 2-star rating—a modest improvement from last year's 1-star, 29th-percentile ranking. Chronic absenteeism runs at 19.4%, slightly above the state's 16.4%, and the student-teacher ratio is 16.1 to 1.
Academically, the clearest bright spot is 6th grade. In 2024-2025, 6th graders achieved 61.4% proficiency in math, beating the state average by 18.5 points. In 2025-2026, 6th grade ELA proficiency reached 60.0%, surpassing the state's 51.2%, while 6th grade math exactly matched the state at 44.4%. Elsewhere, however, the school trails significantly. In 2025-2026, 3rd grade math proficiency was 34.1% versus 52.2% statewide, and 4th grade ELA was 27.9% versus 50.9%. Science is the biggest concern: only 15.4% of 5th graders and 19.1% of 8th graders were proficient in 2024-2025, compared to state averages above 50%.
For parents, the picture is mixed. The school clearly faces headwinds from high poverty and above-average chronic absenteeism, and science instruction, along with early elementary math and literacy, needs attention. But the 6th grade results demonstrate that students at Booker T. Washington Academy can perform at or above state levels, suggesting the potential exists schoolwide. The school's ranking is improving, and families may want to explore what makes 6th grade successful and whether those practices can be extended to other grades.
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