Public Schools in CT Ranked #2 in U.S.

As Connecticut intensifies efforts to attract relocating city dwellers from nearby New York City and other locations, a newly released analysis of public schools across the country is serving of a reminder of one of the state’s assets.  Connecticut is seen as having the 2nd best public schools in the nation, joining Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Delaware and Maryland in the top ten.          

The financial services website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions, “Quality” and “Safety,” evaluated those dimensions using 33 relevant metrics.   Connecticut ranked first in two of them – median ACT score and, most recently, first statewide school closure due to COVD-19.  Among the more traditional metrics, Connecticut’s public schools ranked third in reading test scores, sixth in pupil-teacher ratio, and  12th in math test scores. 

The state-by-state comparison looks at overall performance by public schools statewide, although much of public school education is delivered and determined locally, either in municipal or regional school districts. Disparities among districts continues to persist, and Connecticut remains among the states with the widest disparities.  There are statewide requirements in many areas, such as a requirement for the offering of a full-year high school course on Black and Latino history, now being developed, which could begin in some districts as soon as next year.

"More than 7% of its schools are in the top 700 public schools in the country, and the state's fourth and eighth graders have the third highest reading test scores,” noted WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez. “The fact that Connecticut has the second largest share of 2019's high school class scoring 3 or higher in advanced placement exams, and the high median SAT and ACT scores are more evidence of the quality of the state's schools. Another factor that contributed to the state's high ranking was the small pupil-teacher ratio.”

Connecticut, overall, ranked 21st in the percentage of licensed/certified public K-12 teachers, and the dropout rate among Connecticut students placed the state 13th in that category. The rate of bullying incidents in Connecticut ranked 20th in the nation, and the percentage of threatened or injured high school students ranked 26th. 

“In terms of safety,” Gonzalez added, “Connecticut has ordered statewide school closures, and has a digital learning plan in place. It has also adopted and enacted laws regulating mandatory school resource officers, and requires a school safety plan."

Sources of the data used to develop the rankings included the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Education, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Center for Education Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Education Commission of the States, and State Educational Technology Directors Association.