Summary:
Willington School District is a very small PK-8 district in Connecticut with exactly two schools: Center School (elementary, PK-4, 205 students) and Hall Memorial School (middle, 5-8, 167 students), for 372 students total. The district has no high school, so students must leave Willington for ninth grade onward. District-wide, Willington ranks 91st of 153 Connecticut districts (41st percentile, 2 stars), but that overall rating masks a more mixed picture at the individual school level.
Hall Memorial is the standout school. In 2024-25 it beat the state in every reported subject and grade, most notably 8th grade math at 72.2% proficient versus 40.8% statewide—a 31.4-point gap. Its chronic absenteeism is just 7.4%, less than half the state rate of 16.4%, despite serving older students with a higher free/reduced lunch rate (38.9%) than Center School (33.2%). Hall Memorial also receives more resources: it spends $21,999 per student with a 7.1:1 student-teacher ratio, compared to Center School's $18,727 and 10.8:1 ratio. Center School, meanwhile, shows a bright spot in 3rd grade math at 63.6% proficient (11.4 points above the state) and 4th grade math at the state average, with chronic absenteeism at 10.3%.
The biggest concern is English Language Arts. Hall Memorial's 5th grade ELA plunged from 53.7% to 32.4% in one year, and 8th grade ELA sits at 39.5% versus 51.1% statewide. With only 40-50 students per grade, small cohorts make these percentages swing widely from year to year. Another caveat: Center School has no current school-level ranking and no ELA scores in the data, so its overall standing is hard to judge. Hall Memorial's own ranking slipped from the 73rd percentile (4 stars) in 2024-25 to the 59th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-26. Still, the bottom line for parents is favorable: strong math, very low chronic absenteeism district-wide, and a well-funded middle school with notably small classes, even if reading results remain inconsistent.
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