Danbury School District

The Danbury School District serves 11,649 students across 18 schools, including 14 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 1 high school in a district ranked 134th out of 153 Connecticut districts.

Families will find a wide range of school quality within the district. The clear standouts are Western CT Academy of International Studies Elementary Magne, Great Plain School, and Westside Middle School Academy, all earning 3 stars and performing near or above state averages in multiple subjects. Westside particularly stands out among middle schools with 53.2% proficiency in 8th grade ELA compared to just 30.3% at Broadview Middle School and 24.2% at Rogers Park Middle School despite all three serving similar student populations. South Street School deserves honorable mention for the district's strongest 5th grade math scores at 68.6% proficiency.

The biggest concern is Danbury High School, which ranks in the 15th percentile statewide with only 10.8% SAT math proficiency, 27.6% SAT ELA proficiency, and a 26.0% chronic absenteeism rate nearly double the district average. Math achievement declines sharply as students progress through the system, falling from 39.9% proficiency in 3rd grade to just 10.1% by 11th grade. Notably, spending and class size do not predict success: Rogers Park Middle School has the district's lowest student-teacher ratio and highest spending yet performs near the bottom, while Westside Middle School Academy has the highest ratio among middle schools yet performs best. The presence of several high-performing schools inside a low-ranked district suggests that school-level practices matter greatly and can be replicated elsewhere.