Academy of International Studies 6-12

Academy of International Studies 6-12 is a magnet school in Bloomfield, CT, serving 697 students in grades 6 through 12 as part of the Capitol Region Education Council. The school's standout strength is its graduation rate of 94.2%, which beats both the CREC district average of 92.8% and the state average of 91.2%. This has held steady for five years, ranging from 91.2% to 97.0%. The school also maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.1 and spends generously at about $21,500 per student annually.

However, academic proficiency is a significant concern. Test scores fall well below state averages across all subjects and grades. For example, 7th-grade math proficiency is just 9.6% compared to the state's 44.1%, and 8th-grade math sits at 5.4% versus the state's 41.9%. Even 11th-grade SAT math proficiency lags at 11.9% versus 31.3% statewide. The picture becomes more telling when compared to Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, a CREC sibling school just 4 miles away serving a similar demographic. That school outperforms AIS by 10–20 percentage points in most subjects, showing that stronger outcomes are achievable within the same district network.

For parents, the key concern is the gap between graduation and readiness. While AIS graduates nearly all of its students, low proficiency rates suggest many may not be fully prepared for college or careers. Chronic absenteeism has risen from 16.6% before the pandemic to 28.3% today—better than Hartford high schools like Bulkeley High School (72.8%) and Weaver High School (38.3%), but far worse than suburban neighbors like Simsbury High School (9.7%). The school's low-income students have seen a sharp decline in state rankings, dropping from the 23rd percentile to the 3rd percentile over four years. Science proficiency (24.7%) is more than double math proficiency (11.9%), which may point to curriculum strengths worth building on.