Summary:
Coginchaug Regional High School is the sole high school in Regional School District 13, serving grades 9–12 in Durham, Connecticut, with an enrollment of 356 students. This small, well-resourced school consistently ranks among the top quarter of Connecticut high schools and far exceeds state averages in academic proficiency, graduation rate, and attendance.
Academically, Coginchaug is exceptionally strong. On the Grade 11 assessments, 77.5% of students are proficient in English Language Arts and 74.2% are proficient in Science, compared to state averages of 55.3% and 50.5% respectively — margins of more than 20 percentage points. The school’s graduation rate is 92.5%, slightly above the state’s 91.2%. With a student-teacher ratio of just 8.8 to 1 and per-student spending of $21,182, class sizes are small and individualized attention is likely a key driver of these outcomes. Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low at 8.7%, less than half the state rate of 16.4%, indicating strong student engagement and consistency in attendance.
Statewide school rankings confirm the school’s quality: it ranked 23rd out of 133 Connecticut high schools in 2025–26 (83rd percentile, 4 stars), 36th in 2023–24 (75th percentile, 4 stars), and 19th in 2021–22 (86th percentile, 4 stars). While there is some year-to-year movement, the school has never slipped below the top quarter. Interestingly, the district-level rating for Regional School District 13 is 77th of 153 districts (50th percentile, 3 stars), which likely reflects the performance of its elementary and middle schools rather than the high school itself. With only 15.73% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, the student population is comparatively affluent, and the overall picture is of a high-performing, well-funded school that gives its students a clear advantage in both academics and daily attendance.
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