Summary:
Zip code 06053 in New Britain, Connecticut, is served by a single middle school: Pulaski Middle School, which enrolls 839 students in grades 6–8.
Pulaski Middle School, part of the New Britain School District, is the only middle school in the zip code, so there are no local schools to compare it to directly. Against statewide benchmarks, the picture is stark. For 2025–2026, the school was ranked 256th out of 258 Connecticut middle schools — the bottom 1% — earning a 0-star rating. In the two prior years, it ranked last in the entire state. Chronic absenteeism is 37.4%, more than double the state rate of 16.4%, making attendance a major barrier to learning.
Academically, proficiency is critically low across all subjects. On the SBAC, only 10.4% of 6th graders, 9.7% of 7th graders, and 9.4% of 8th graders met ELA proficiency in 2025–2026, compared to roughly 51% statewide. Math proficiency ranged from 4.8% in 6th grade to 15% in 8th grade, versus about 44% statewide. In 8th grade science, just 7.8% were proficient versus 50.9% statewide. Context matters: over 80% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high-poverty population. The school spends $14,160 per student with a 13.1:1 student-teacher ratio, yet outcomes remain far below district and state averages.
There are some signs of progress, however. In 2025–2026, 6th grade ELA proficiency more than doubled from 4.5% to 10.4%, and 8th grade math jumped from 4.3% to 15% — the school's strongest subject-grade result and closest to the district average of 17.5%. Still, the school remains in urgent need of targeted support. With bottom-1% rankings for three consecutive years and declining science scores, Pulaski's challenges run deeper than funding or class size. Meaningful interventions around attendance, poverty, and academic recovery will be essential.
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