John Read Middle School

John Read Middle School in Redding, CT, is a small, well-resourced school serving 381 students in grades 5–8 within the highly rated Redding School District, located in one of Connecticut's strongest educational regions. The school currently ranks 19th out of 258 middle schools statewide (93rd percentile) and has earned a 5-star rating in 9 of the last 10 years, never dropping below 28th in the state. Notably, John Read Middle School is the only middle school in its immediate neighborhood that serves 5th graders — nearby schools such as East Ridge Middle School, Middlebrook School, and Weston Middle School all begin at 6th grade — which adds an extra year of middle school and makes direct comparisons with 6–8 peers somewhat complex.

Financially, the school stands out: at $24,945 per student, it spends more than every nearby school, including Weston Middle School ($21,777) and East Ridge Middle School ($20,747). That investment supports an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 10.4 to 1, among the lowest in the region. Academically, John Read Middle School outperforms the state by roughly 25–35 percentage points in nearly every subject and grade, with especially strong 5th-grade results and 8th-grade science (81.5% proficiency vs. 50.9% statewide). Its chronic absenteeism rate of 6.1% is well below the state's 16.4%, though slightly higher than peers like Scotts Ridge Middle School (4.3%) and Weston Middle School (4.6%).

That said, John Read Middle School sits in the second tier of an extraordinarily strong region. Middlebrook School (rank 4), Weston Middle School (rank 7), East Ridge Middle School (rank 12), and Helen Keller Middle School (rank 14) all rank higher on state assessments. One area to watch is 7th-grade ELA, where proficiency (71.3%) lags behind Weston Middle School (88.4%) and Middlebrook School (83.5%). Female students also consistently rank higher than male classmates in subgroup comparisons. High spending doesn't automatically mean the highest scores, though it does support the small class sizes families often value. Overall, John Read Middle School is a stable, high-performing school that delivers excellent results against state averages, even if a few elite neighbors post slightly stronger numbers.