Naugatuck School District

The Naugatuck School District in Naugatuck, Connecticut, serves about 3,658 students across 8 schools spanning grades K-12, including four elementary schools, two intermediate schools, one middle school, and one high school, with the district ranked 125th out of 153 Connecticut districts.

For parents, the standout elementary school is Hop Brook Elementary School, which has the district's highest elementary rank (287th out of 491) and consistently posts strong 4th grade ELA scores above state averages. The most improved school is Andrew Avenue School, which jumped from the 20th to 36th percentile in one year despite having the highest poverty rate in the district (72% free/reduced lunch) — its 4th grade ELA proficiency of 56.3% actually beats the state average. Maple Hill School stands out for attendance, with a chronic absenteeism rate of just 6.1% — the lowest in the district by a wide margin — while also spending the least per student ($14,562). On the other end, Naugatuck High School is the district's biggest concern, dropping from the 38th to 17th percentile over four years, with only 12.1% of 11th graders proficient in SAT math and a graduation rate below the state average.

Several district-wide patterns are important to know. Math is a systemic weakness: no school in the district reaches the state average at any grade level, and math proficiency declines sharply as students get older, collapsing by high school. Chronic absenteeism also spikes in secondary grades, rising from around 6-20% in elementary schools to over 21% at the middle and high school levels. Spending and class sizes don't predict success — the highest-spending schools have very different outcomes, while low-spending Maple Hill excels, suggesting attendance and instruction matter more than resources. Among the two intermediate schools, Cross Street Intermediate School consistently outperforms Hillside Intermediate School in both ELA and math, and also has lower absenteeism. Bright spots include Cross Street's 6th grade ELA, Andrew Avenue's 4th grade ELA, and improving 11th grade science at the high school, showing targeted gains are possible even in a district facing major challenges.