Summary:
Regional School District 09, located in the Redding, Connecticut area, serves one high school — Joel Barlow High School — for students in grades 9 through 12, with an enrollment of 698 students. Because Regional School District 09 contains just one high school, school-level metrics are effectively the same as district-level results. The district is ranked 3rd out of 153 districts in Connecticut, placing it in the 98th percentile with a 5-star rating, and its rank improved to #2 out of 133 systems for 2025–2026, up from #8 out of 141 the previous year.
Joel Barlow High School's academic performance is exceptional in all three tested subjects. On the SAT, 89.7% of 11th graders are proficient in English Language Arts, compared to 55.3% statewide. Math proficiency is 66.9%, more than double the state's 31.3%, and science proficiency is 92.1% versus 50.5% statewide. The graduation rate is 97.8%, well above the state average of 91.2%, and only 8.9% of students are chronically absent, roughly half the statewide rate of 16.4%.
The school improved year-over-year in every subject — ELA rose 8.4 points, math gained 6.3 points, and science climbed 6.5 points — even as statewide ELA proficiency declined slightly. Science is the school's greatest strength, with its largest lead over the state. Math, while still more than double the state average, is the lowest proficiency area, which mirrors a common statewide pattern. Joel Barlow benefits from strong resources, including a low free/reduced-price lunch rate of 10.89%, an 11:1 student-teacher ratio, and high per-student spending. Since the district has only one high school, this stellar performance is concentrated in a single, consistently excellent campus.
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