Geraldine Claytor Magnet Academy

Geraldine Claytor Magnet Academy is a PK-8 school in Bridgeport, CT, serving 450 students within the Bridgeport School District, which ranks in the bottom 4% of Connecticut districts. The school itself ranked in the 7th percentile statewide in 2025–2026, and nearly all students (93.6%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Claytor also has the highest student-teacher ratio (15.5) and the lowest per-student spending ($11,122) among its closest neighboring schools.

Claytor's most urgent challenge is attendance. The chronic absenteeism rate jumped to 35.6% in the latest year — more than double the state average of 16.4% and well above Bridgeport's 31.3%. Nearby Black Rock School, just half a mile away, has a rate of only 18.9%. Even more telling, Classical Studies Academy serves a nearly identical share of low-income families (91.5%) yet has about half the absenteeism (19.6%). Academic proficiency is low across nearly all subjects: 5th-grade ELA is at 15.9%, 7th-grade ELA at 14.9%, and 8th-grade science at 14.3%. One genuine bright spot stands out: 8th-grade math proficiency (21.4%) actually surpassed the district's 17.0% rate. The hardest challenges involve subgroups — female students ranked last among 234 comparable Connecticut schools in 2021–2022, and low-income students ranked in the 3rd percentile.

The comparison to Classical Studies Academy is encouraging, because it shows that with almost identical poverty and funding levels, a school can achieve stronger results and much better attendance. That suggests school-level factors such as climate, attendance, and instructional practices can make a meaningful difference. While Claytor remains near the bottom of state rankings, the modest rise from the 4th to the 7th percentile, together with the strong 8th-grade math result, indicates that progress is possible even with the school's real resource constraints.