Summary:
Zip code 06840 in New Canaan, Connecticut is home to three elementary schools—East School, West School, and South School—serving grades pre-K through 4 and enrolling about 1,512 students across the New Canaan School District. The district is ranked #2 out of 153 Connecticut districts, placing it in the 99th percentile, so families in this area are already starting from a position of exceptional strength. Each school performs at or near the very top of the state, though their specific strengths differ by grade level and metric.
South School is the most consistent recent performer, ranking #4, #2, and #3 in the last three available years, and it boasts the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 2.4% and the most favorable student-teacher ratio at 10.7. East School, the largest school with 554 students, is a fourth-grade powerhouse, posting the dataset's single highest score—97.3% proficiency in 4th-grade ELA in 2024-25—and an impressive 94.0% in 4th-grade math the following year. West School, meanwhile, is a historic top performer that reached #1 in Connecticut in 2021-22 and holds the highest average test proficiency among reported scores at 91.8%, but its recent ranking data is incomplete, making its current standing less clear.
All three schools are elite by state standards. Even the lowest reported score, East School's 85.0% in 2025-26 3rd-grade math, is nearly 33 points above the state average, and chronic absenteeism at all three schools sits at or below 4.0% versus the state's 16.4%. East School and South School clearly outpace West School in available recent rankings, but West School's missing data makes it a wildcard. The takeaway is simple: every school in this zip code offers an exceptional education, with South School leading in consistency, East School dominating fourth grade, and West School remaining a historically elite option with strong current scores.
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