As it does each August, Wilton High School kept its Top-10 ranking on Niche.com‘s yearly list of Best Public High Schools in CT, coming in at No. 9, while the entire district was ranked at No. 8 on the website’s overall list of Best School Districts in CT. But the just-released 2020 rankings saw Wilton slip just slightly in both categories, with WHS and the district each slipping from No. 6 on their respective 2019 lists.
Those were two out of several lists included in Niche.com’s 2020 K-12 School & District Rankings, which the data company released ahead of the 2018-19 school year on Monday, Aug. 5. They analyzed stats from the U.S. Department of Education for factors like academics, teachers, culture and diversity–including state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more–with millions of reviews from students and parents about their local schools to rank 24,490 public high schools, 8,368 private high schools, 82,715 public K-8 schools, and 10,782 school districts in the United States.
Overall, at No. 8 out of 132 districts in Connecticut, Wilton Public Schools came in behind only Westport (1), New Canaan (2), Glastonbury (3), Amity Regional District (4), Darien (5), Weston (6) and Farmington (7).
Rounding out the remaining top-10 CT school districts are Fairfield (9) and West Hartford (10). The other schools in Wilton’s District Reference Group (DRG-A) that made the list are Ridgefield (11), Easton (unranked, rated A-), and Redding (unranked, rated A-).
Here’s where Wilton ranked on all the Niche 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:
Academics: A+
Teachers: A+
Diversity: C-
College Prep: A+
Clubs and Activities: A
Health and Safety: A+
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 117
- Westport (1)
- New Canaan (2)
- Glastonbury (3)
- Amity Regional School District No. 5/Woodbridge (4)
- Darien (5)
- Weston (6)
- Farmington (7)
- Wilton (#8 in CT, #5 in Fairfield County, #44 in NYC, #196 in US)
- Fairfield (9)
- Ridgefield (11)
- Greenwich (12)
- Newtown (22)
- Trumbull (24)
- Brookfield (31)
- Bethel (35)
- Norwalk (79)
Other Important Rankings for the District
Best Teachers: #10 in CT, #6 in Fairfield County, #80 in NYC, #470 in US
Best Places to Teach: #5 in CT, #3 in Fairfield County, #80 in NYC, #234 in US
Safest School Districts: #6 in CT, #3 in Fairfield County, #41 in NYC, #288 in US
Best School Districts for Athletes: #24 in CT, 11 in Fairfield County, #53 in NYC, #569 in US
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. 9 out of 206 CT high schools, and at No. 6 out of the 38 high schools in Fairfield County. Check out the ranking of WHS’s teachers too, at #10 in Fairfield County and at #28 in CT. Wilton High School also received an overall grade of A+.
- Staples HS/Westport (1)
- New Canaan HS (2)
- Darien HS (3)
- Weston HS (4)
- Greenwich (5)
- Glastonbury (6)
- Conard (7)
- Simsbury (8)
- Wilton High School (#9 in CT, #6 in Fairfield County, #77 in NYC, #471 in US)
- Academics: A+
- Teachers: A
- Diversity: C+
- College Prep: A+
- Clubs and Activities: A-
- Health and Safety: A
- Administration: B+
- Sports: A
- Food: A+
- Resources and Facilities: B+
- Fairfield Warde (10)
- Ridgefield HS (14)
- Fairfield Ludlowe (15)
- Joel Barlow HS/Redding (17)
Other Important Rankings for Wilton High School
Best Public High School Teachers: #28 in CT, #10 in Fairfield County, #219 in NYC
Best College Prep Public High Schools: #6 in CT, #6 in Fairfield County, #73 in NYC, #410 in US
Best STEM High Schools: #18 in CT, #9 in Fairfield County, #93 in NYC, #572 in US
Best High School Sports: #39 in CT, #13 in Fairfield County, #70 in NYC, #983 in US
Best Public Middle Schools in CT–Out of 293
Middlebrook Middle School came in at #17 out of 285 CT public middle schools. Middlebrook’s teachers were ranked #6 public school middle teachers in Fairfield County, out of 64 middle schools. Middlebrook earned an overall grade of A.
- Saxe MS/New Canaan (1)
- West Woods Upper Elementary/Farmington (2)
- Bedford MS/Westport (3)
- Amity Middle School/Orange (4)
- Gideon Welles School/Glastonbury (5)
- Coleytown Middle School/Westport (7)
- Roger Ludlowe Middle School/Fairfield (10)
- Fairfield Woods Middle School/Fairfield (12)
- Middlebrook Middle School (#17 in CT, #6 in Fairfield County, #130 in NYC)
- Academics: A
- Teachers: A+
- Diversity: B-
Other Important Rankings for Middlebrook:
Best Middle School Teachers: #15 in CT, #6 in Fairfield County, #182 in NYC
Best Public Elementary Schools in CT–out of 581
Cider Mill Elementary School (Grades 3-5) was ranked #26 out of 144 public elementary schools in Fairfield County, and #51 out of 581 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-, although there was no grade for academics; M-D teachers received a grade of A, and the school got a B grade for diversity.
- East School/New Canaan K-4 (1)
- West School/New Canaan K-4 (2)
- Green’s Farms School/Westport K-5 (3)
- South School/New Canaan K-4 (4)
- Long Lots School/Westport K-5 (5)
- King’s Highway/Westport K-5 (6)
- Saugatuck/Westport K-5 (8)
- Cider Mill School 3-5 (#49 in CT, #26 in Fairfield County, #301 in NYC)
- Academics: A
- Teachers: A+
- Diversity: B-
- Miller-Driscoll Elementary PK, K-2 (NR)
- Teachers: B+
- Diversity: B`
How can Wilton drop three places in school ratings? I was told at the Annual Town Meeting that we have the best of everything and the current budget was woefully inadequate and we are doing a disservice to our students. We have one of the highest paid school superintendents in the state. We win awards in every category. Our success is touted by the number of students we have in every top honor group known to man. I was told that if we didn’t pay top dollar to get the best we would be letting down our students, people with kids wouldn’t move to town, our housing prices would tumble, we couldn’t sell our houses.
I was the first questioner at the Annual Town Meeting this spring and noted that the current superintendent received a 20% wage increase while the total increase for the administrative staff was 3.8%. (I assume the super’s was included in the calculation). I am retired now but when I worked the mantra was ‘Pay for Performance.’ People that thought outside the box, introduced new innovations, made cost effective improvements without hurting quality, or greatly improved the operations were the yardsticks to measure performance. Keeping things on track were expected as part of the job.
I asked what he had initiated to merit such a large increase. I was summarily told at the meeting that “he has continued to manage a running operation.” None of the metrics used in my world seemed to have been used. I have lived in Wilton for 30 years. I have paid taxes for 30 years.
I have never had a child in Wilton schools. I have gladly supported providing good education to our students. However, I do not see why I should pay to bring our school to the highest standards of a private school. I am tired of hearing people with children say they want to move as soon as their children graduate.
As noted, I am retired. The only benefit I get is a fifty-cent discount on my transfer ticket. Let’s be fair to all town residents.
Dean Keister
Perhaps you moved to the wrong Town for your standards. We moved here 49 years ago and the education facilities were number one on our location criteria listing. Our children went K through 12 and on to college and productive family and community lives. We made an outstanding investment and decision.
Now, before we came to Wilton, many residents shelled out, built and paid for a superior education system. They paid for our children, and now we are proud and happy to do the same for others. Our neighborhood today is filled with young kids who attend all Wilton schools. They are getting a very fine education. They are neat, respectful and orderly. Wilton schools make a difference in their lives, and we all are fortunate to be able to profit by that history.
The superintendent? Just take a look at what we pay corporate executives who manage organizations as large and complex as our school system. We see what we have with today’s administration, and it is excellent in our perspective. {Ray and Gail Moskow}