Niche.com 2023 Rankings Announced, Wilton School District Rises One Spot to #5 in CT

The 2023 Niche.com Best Schools and Districts rankings were released earlier this week, and the Wilton Public School District was listed in the top-five school districts in Connecticut. This year the district earned an overall A-plus grade from the website and was ranked fifth on the list of Best School Districts in CT, rising one spot in the last year since the 2022 rankings were released last September.

Now in its ninth year, the K-12 school rankings include updated data for 92,743 public schools, 30,112 private schools, and 11,820 school districts nationwide.

While traditional rankings rely almost exclusively on metrics like test scores and academic performance, Niche.com’s press release said the “rankings combine user input — ratings from current students, alumni, and parents — with quantitative data from sources like the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities, extracurricular activity opportunities and more.”

Wilton Public School Rankings

Overall, at No. 5 out of 129 school districts in Connecticut, Wilton Public Schools came in behind Westport (1), New Canaan (2), Greenwich (3), and Darien (4). Rounding out the rest of the Top-10 districts were and Glastonbury (6), Ridgefield (7), Farmington (8), Avon (9), and Amity Regional School District (Woodbridge) (10).

Here’s where Wilton ranked on all the Niche.com lists, compared across Fairfield County, the New York City metropolitan area, Connecticut, and the nation:

The Wilton Public School District received an overall grade of A+. Broken down, the district report card included the following grades (which remained the same from 2022 unless otherwise indicated):

Academics:  A+
Teachers:  A+
Diversity:  C+ (stayed level since 2022)
College Prep:  A+
Clubs and Activities:  A+ (up from an A in 2022)
Administration:  B+
Sports:  A+
Food:  A+
Resources and Facilities:  A

Complete Wilton Public School District Rankings

Here’s how the Wilton district as a whole fared, in comparison to school districts across America, within CT, within the New York City metropolitan area and with other Fairfield County school districts:

Best School Districts in CT — out of 116

• New Canaan (1)
• Westport (2)
• Darien (3)
• Greenwich (4)
• Wilton (5)
  • No. 98 in US (up 40)
  • No. 5 in CT (up 1)
  • No. 26 in NYC area (up 15)
  • No. 5 in Fairfield County (flat)
• Glastonbury (6)
• Ridgefield (7)
• Farmington (8)
• Avon (9)
• Amity Regional School District No. 5/Woodbridge (10)
• Weston (11)
• Fairfield (12)
• Trumbull (20)
• Newtown (21)
• Brookfield (37)
• Bethel (49)
• Norwalk (53)
• Stamford (63)

Other Important Rankings for the District

Best Teachers:  #8 in CT (flat), #5 in Fairfield County (up 2), #38 in NYC (up 36), #176 in US (up 184)
Best Places to Teach:  #4 in CT (flat), #4 in Fairfield County (flat), #33 in NYC (up 47), #90 in U.S. (up 156) in US
Best School Districts for Athletes:  #14 in CT (up 2), #7 in Fairfield County (up 1), #31 in NYC (down 4), #298 in U.S. (up 15)

Individual Wilton School Results

Niche.com has several sub-rankings for individual schools and features as well.

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Best Public High Schools in CT — Out of 206

Wilton High School was ranked at No. 5 out of 199 CT high schools — the same exact spot as 2021 and 2022 — and at No. 5 out of 41 high schools in Fairfield County. Check out the ranking of WHS’s teachers too, at #6 in Fairfield County (same as 2022), at #10 in CT (up 1) and up in both NYC and state rankings too. Wilton High School also received an overall grade of A+.

• Staples HS/Westport (1)
• New Canaan HS (2)
• Darien HS (3)
• Greenwich HS (4)
• Wilton High School:  #5 in CT, #5 in Fairfield County, #61 in NYC (down 1) , and #368 in US (down 48)
  • Academics:  A+
  • Teachers:  A
  • Diversity:  B-
  • College Prep:  A+
  • Clubs and Activities:  A- (down from an A in 2022)
  • Administration:  B (down from a B+ in 2022)
  • Sports:  A+
  • Food:  A- (down from an A in 2022)
  • Resources and Facilities:  B+ (down from an A- in 2022)
• Avon HS (6)
• Farmington HS (7)
• Glastonbury HS (8)
• Weston HS (9)
• Fairfield Ward HS (10)
• Ridgefield HS (11)
• Center for Global Studies/Norwalk (15)
• Joel Barlow HS (17)

Other Important Rankings for Wilton High School

Best Public High School Teachers:  #10 in CT (up 1), #6 in Fairfield County (flat), #95 in NYC (up 5), #567 in U.S (up 25).
Best College Prep Public High Schools:  #6 in CT (flat), #6 in Fairfield County (flat), #72 in NYC (down 1), #425 in US (down 20)
Best High Schools for STEM:  #23 in CT (down 2), #13 in Fairfield County (down 1), #118 in NYC (down 6), #758 in U.S. (down 81)
Best High Schools for Athletes:  #26 in CT (up 1), #10 in Fairfield County (up 1), #45 in NYC (up 4), #596 in U.S. (up 41)

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Best Public Middle Schools in CT — Out of 289

Middlebrook Middle School came in at #8 out of 289 CT public middle schools — four spots higher than in 2022. Middlebrook’s teachers were ranked 11th of public middle school teachers in Fairfield County, out of 70 middle schools. Middlebrook earned an overall grade of A.

• Eastern MS/Greenwich (1)
• Saxe MS/New Canaan (2)
• Bedford MS/Westport (3)
• Middlesex MS/Darien (4)
• Avon MS (5)
• Irving A. Robbins Middle School/Farmington (6)
• East Ridge MS/Ridgefield (7)
• Middlebrook Middle School:  #8 in CT (up 4), #6 in Fairfield County (flat), #80 in NYC (up 9), #656 in U.S. (up 44)
  • Academics:  A
  • Teachers:  A
  • Diversity:  B- (down from a B in 2022)
• Amity Middle School/Bethany (9)
• Amity Middle School/Orange (10)
• Scotts Ridge MS/Ridgefield (11)
• Gideon Welles School/Glastonbury (12)

Other Important Rankings for Middlebrook:

Best Middle School Teachers:  #22 in CT (up 11), #11 in Fairfield County (up 1), #266 in NYC (up 46)
Academics:  Reading — 81% Proficient; Math — 77% Proficient

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Best Public Elementary Schools in CT — Out of 577

Cider Mill Elementary School (Grades 3-5) was ranked #27 out of 149 public elementary schools in Fairfield County, and #41 (down 1) out of 577 statewide public elementary schools. Cider Mill earned an A grade overall (flat from 2022).

Miller-Driscoll Elementary School (pre-K, K-2) was not ranked on Niche.com’s list. It did receive an overall grade of A- (flat from 2022); although there was no grade for academics, M-D teachers received a grade of A (up from an A- in 2022), and the school got a B grade for diversity (flat).

• Stamford Charter School for Excellence PK, K-5 (1)
• South School/New Canaan K-4 (2)
• Green’s Farms School/Westport K-5 (3)
• West School/New Canaan PK, K-4  (4)
• East School/New Canaan K-4  (5)
• Coleytown Elementary/Westport K-5 (6)
• Riverside School/Greenwich K-5 (7)
• North Mianus School K-5  (8)
• King’s Highway/Westport K-5 (9)
• Long Lots School/Westport K-5 (10)
• Saugatuck/Westport K-5 (11)
• International School at Dundee/Greenwich K-5 (12)
• Old Greenwich School/Greenwich (PK, K-5) (14)
• North Street School/Greenwich (16)
• Barlow Mountain Elementary School/Ridgefield PK, K-5 (17)
• Ridgebury Elementary/Ridgefield PK, K-5 (18)
• Tokeneke Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (20)
• Farmingville Elementary School/Ridgefield K-5 (23)
• Scotland Elementary/Ridgefield K-5 (24)
• Holmes Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (26)
• Hindley Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (29)
• Ox Ridge Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (30)
• Sherman School/Fairfield, K-5 (33)
• Branchville Elementary/Ridgefield K-5 (39)
• Cider Mill School 3-5:  #41 in CT (down 1), #27 in Fairfield County (up 5), #235 in NYC (up 19)
  • Academics:  A
  • Teachers:  A+ 
  • Diversity:  B
  • Best Public Elementary School Teachers:  #47 in CT (up 7), #24 in Fairfield County (up 6), #378 in NYC (up 29)
  • Most Diverse Public Elementary Schools:  #460 in CT (up 2), #121 in Fairfield County (down 3)
  • Academics: Reading — 82% Proficient; Math — 73% Proficient
• Miller-Driscoll Elementary PK, K-2 (NR)
  • Teachers:  A (up from A-)
  • Diversity:  B (#407 out of 617)