The 2022 Niche.com Best Schools rankings were released on Monday, Sept. 20, and the Wilton Public School District has again made it onto the list’s top-10 bracket for CT. This year the district earned an overall A-plus grade from the website and was ranked sixth on the list of Best School Districts in CT, dropping just two spots since the 2021 rankings were released last October.

Now in its eighth year, the K-12 school rankings include updated data for 94,491 public schools, 2,489 private schools, and 11,846 school districts nationwide.

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

This year, Niche.com also adjusted its methodology, de-emphasizing SAT and ACT scores and reducing the test score factor in its calculations by one-third. Niche.com officials say the change reflects the growing trend of colleges adopting test-optional admissions policies as well as the difficulty students had during the COVID-19 pandemic to make in-person test-taking appointments.

The company also acknowledged a different factor related to SAT and ACT scores, what it said are “socioeconomic and racial disparities perpetuated by standardized tests.”

Wilton Public School Rankings

Overall, at No. 6 out of 130 districts in Connecticut, Wilton Public Schools came in behind New Canaan (1), Westport (2), Darien (3), Greenwich (4), and Glastonbury (5). Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 districts were Farmington (7), Ridgefield (8), Weston (9), and Amity Regional School District (Woodbridge) (10).

Here’s where Wilton ranked on all the Niche.com lists, compared across Fairfield County, across CT, as well as across 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 2021 unless otherwise indicated):

Academics:  A+
Teachers:  A+
Diversity:  C+ (up from a C- in 2021)
College Prep:  A+
Clubs and Activities:  A
Health and Safety:  A+
Administration:  B+
Sports:  A+ (up from an A in 2021)
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 130

  • New Canaan (1)
  • Westport (2)
  • Darien (3)
  • Greenwich (4)
  • Glastonbury (5)
  • Wilton (6)
    • No. 138 149 in US (up 11)
    • No. 6 in CT (down 2)
    • No. 41 in NYC area (down 1)
    • No. 5 in Fairfield County (down 1)
  • Farmington (7)
  • Ridgefield (8)
  • Weston (9)
  • Amity Regional School District No. 5/Woodbridge (10)
  • Avon (11)
  • Fairfield (12)
  • Trumbull (20)
  • Newtown (22)
  • Brookfield (34)
  • Bethel (49)
  • Norwalk (69)
  • Stamford (71)

Other Important Rankings for the District

Best Teachers:  #10 in CT (down 1), #7 in Fairfield County (down 1), #74 in NYC (up 18), #360 in US (up 185)
Best Places to Teach:  #4 in CT (flat), #4 in Fairfield County (down 1), #80 in NYC (up 3), #246 in U.S. (up 57) in US
Safest School Districts:  #7 in CT (down 4), #2 in Fairfield County (flat), #53 in NYC (down 20), #524 in U.S. (down 274)
Best School Districts for Athletes:  #16 in CT (up 3), #8 in Fairfield County (up 1), #27 in NYC (up 12), #313 in U.S. (up 106)

Individual Wilton School Results

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

Best Public High Schools in CT–out of 206

Wilton High School was ranked at No. 5 out of 206 CT high schools — the same exact spot as 2021 — and at No. 5 out of 40 high schools in Fairfield County. Check out the ranking of WHS’s teachers too, at #6 in Fairfield County (up 3) and at #11 in CT (up 12). 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, #60 in NYC (up 3) , and #320 in US (up 46)
    • Academics:  A+
    • Teachers:  A
    • Diversity:  B-
    • College Prep:  A+
    • Clubs and Activities:  A
    • Health and Safety:  A (down from an A+ in 2021)
    • Administration:  B+
    • Sports:  A+
    • Food:  A (down from an A+ in 2021)
    • Resources and Facilities:  A-
  • Weston HS (6)
  • Farmington HS (7)
  • Glastonbury HS (8)
  • Fairfield Ward HS (9)
  • Marine Science Magnet HS of Southeastern CT (10)
  • Ridgefield HS (12)
  • Joel Barlow HS (17)

Other Important Rankings for Wilton High School

Best Public High School Teachers:  #11 in CT (up 12), #6 in Fairfield County (up 3), #100 in NYC (up 100), #592 in U.S.
Best College Prep Public High Schools:  #6 in CT (down 1), #6 in Fairfield County (down 1), #71 in NYC (down 12), #405 in US (down 60)
Best High Schools for STEM:  #21 in CT (down 3), #12 in Fairfield County (down 2), #112 in NYC (down 12), #677 in U.S. (down 75)
Best High Schools for Athletes:  #27 in CT (up 2), #11 in Fairfield County (up 1), #49 in NYC (up 8), #637 in U.S. (up 87)

Best Public Middle Schools in CT–Out of 293

Middlebrook Middle School came in at #12 out of 293 CT public middle schools — two spots lower than in 2021. Middlebrook’s teachers were ranked 12th of public middle school teachers in Fairfield County, out of 70 middle schools. Middlebrook earned an overall grade of A.

  • Saxe MS/New Canaan (1)
  • Bedford MS/Westport (2)
  • Eastern MS/Greenwich (3)
  • Irving A. Robbins Middle School/Farmington (4)
  • Middlesex MS/Darien (5)
  • Avon MS (6)
  • Amity Middle School/Bethany (7)
  • Gideon Welles School/Glastonbury (8)
  • East Ridge MS/Ridgefield (9)
  • Amity Middle School/Orange (10)
  • Smith MS/Glastonbury (11)
  • Middlebrook Middle School:  #12 in CT (down 2), #6 in Fairfield County (flat), #89 in NYC (flat), #700 in U.S. (up 28)
    • Academics:  A
    • Teachers:  A
    • Diversity:  B (up from a B- in 2021)

Other Important Rankings for Middlebrook:

Best Middle School Teachers:  #33 in CT (down 12), #12 in Fairfield County (down 3), #307 in NYC (down 65)

Most Diverse Public Middle Schools:  #228 in CT, #57 out of 70 in Fairfield County

Best Public Elementary Schools in CT – out of 580

Cider Mill Elementary School (Grades 3-5) was ranked #32 out of 148 public elementary schools in Fairfield County, and #40 (up 13) out of 580 statewide public elementary schools. Cider Mill earned an A grade overall.

Miller-Driscoll Elementary School (pre-K, K-2) was not ranked on Niche.com’s list. It did receive an overall grade of A- (up from a B+ in 2021); although there was no grade for academics, M-D teachers received a grade of A- (up from a B in 2021), 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)
  • East School/New Canaan K-4 (3)
  • Green’s Farms School/Westport K-5 (4)
  • Coleytown Elementary/Westport K-5 (5)
  • West School/New Canaan PK, K-4  (6)
  • Long Lots School/Westport K-5 (7)
  • King’s Highway/Westport K-5 (8)
  • North Mianus School K-5 (9)
  • Saugatuck/Westport K-5 (10)
  • Riverside School/Greenwich (12) K-5
  • Tokeneke Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (18)
  • Barlow Mountain Elementary School/Ridgefield PK, K-5 (19)
  • Farmingville Elementary School/Ridgefield K-5 (21)
  • Hindley Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (23)
  • Ox Ridge Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (24)
  • Scotland Elementary/Ridgefield K-5 (26)
  • Ridgebury Elementary/Ridgefield PK, K-5 (27)
  • Holmes Elementary/Darien PK, K-5 (31)
  • Branchville Elementary/Ridgefield K-5 (38)
  • Cider Mill School 3-5:  #40 in CT (up 13), #27 in Fairfield County (up 2), #254 in NYC (up 69)
    • Academics:  A
    • Teachers:  A+ (up from an A in 2021)
    • Diversity:  B
    • Best Public Elementary School Teachers:  #54 in CT, #30 in Fairfield County, #407 in NYC
    • Most Diverse Public Elementary Schools:  #462 in CT, #118 in Fairfield County
  • Miller-Driscoll Elementary PK, K-2 (NR)
    • Teachers:  A- (up from B+)
    • Diversity:  B

Wilton Private Schools

The Montessori School (PK, K-8) was the only private school in Wilton that was included in Niche.com’s rankings of private schools.

The site gave the Montessori School and overall A+ grade, breaking it out as follows:

  • Academics: A-
  • Teachers: A+
  • Diversity: A

Other Wilton private schools were listed in the site’s directory, but only the Montessori School received any grades.