Summary:
New Britain School District is home to one high school, New Britain High School, a large public school serving grades 9–12 with about 2,521 students. The school serves a predominantly low-income community, with more than 71% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The district itself ranks 150th out of 153 districts in Connecticut, placing it near the very bottom of the state. As the only high school in the district, New Britain High School is the primary option for families in the area.
New Britain High School's graduation rate is 74.6%, above the district average of 72.6% but well below the state average of 91.2%. Chronic absenteeism is a major concern at 43.7%, meaning nearly half of all students miss significant school time; this rate is more than 2.5 times the state average of 16.4%. Test proficiency rates for 11th graders are low. On the SAT, only 29.1% of students are proficient in English Language Arts and just 8.6% are proficient in math. On the NGSS science exam, 28.2% are proficient. In all three subjects, the school outperforms the district average but trails the state by very large margins, especially in math.
Despite the challenges, there are some positive signs. Science proficiency jumped from 19.2% to 28.2% in one year, and the school's statewide ranking improved, moving from 128th to 115th out of 133 schools in the most recent year. Still, math proficiency remains critically low at under 10%, and the graduation gap means about one in four students does not graduate on time. With a student-teacher ratio of 16.2:1 and per-student spending of about $16,028, the school operates with typical resources but faces significant obstacles related to poverty and attendance. The most urgent priorities for improvement are reducing chronic absenteeism and strengthening foundational math skills.
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