Pathways Academy of Technology and Design

Pathways Academy of Technology and Design is a small public high school in East Hartford, CT, serving 359 students in grades 9 through 12 — though the school actually operates under the Hartford School District. Like many Hartford magnet schools, Pathways serves a high-poverty student body, with about 80% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and spends roughly $17,000 per student.

The school's biggest strength in 2024–2025 was its 95.5% graduation rate, well above the state average of 91.2% — but that marks an 11-point jump from the prior year (84.5%), so it's unclear whether it signals a lasting trend. More concerning is chronic absenteeism, which sits at 40.1% — more than double the state rate (16.4%) and higher than the Hartford district average (35.9%). Only Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts High School - Full Day has a worse rate among comparable nearby schools. Test scores are also low: just 12.7% of 11th graders met the SAT math benchmark (vs. 31.3% statewide) and only 14.3% were proficient in science (vs. 50.5% statewide), with math scores declining steadily over recent years.

Despite the school's technology and design focus, its science results lag far behind East Hartford High School (14.3% vs. 51.1% proficiency), a traditional high school serving a less affluent population. The gap is even wider compared with Connecticut IB Academy, just 1.7 miles away, where 77.8% of students are proficient in science and only 3.6% are chronically absent — though CT IB also serves far fewer low-income students (41% vs. 80%). Overall, Pathways graduates students at a respectable rate, but families should weigh that against high absenteeism, rising class sizes (student-teacher ratio climbed from 12.5 to 16.5), and a school ranking that has slipped to the 14th percentile statewide.