US News: Wilton High School Ranks #6 in State

U.S. News magazine's latest rankings of public high schools across the country puts Wilton High School at No. 6 on the Connecticut list.

Nationwide, Wilton High School was ranked 277th best, overall.

Statewide, the only schools ranking higher were three magnet schools, along with Weston High School (No. 3), and Conard High School in West Hartford (No. 5).

In terms of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), Wilton ranked very high among the top schools in the country, at No. 47. Only Darien (No. 31) ranked higher in Connecticut.

The Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Hartford ranks No. 1 in Connecticut, followed by Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy in East Hartford, both public magnet schools. (The school in Hartford also ranks as the 5th best public magnet school in the United States; the East Hartford school is No. 10.)

Besides Wilton High School's No. 6 ranking on the Connecticut list and Weston's No. 3 ranking, other high-ranking Fairfield County high schools are Ridgefield (No. 8), Westport's Staples (9), Darien (12), and Redding-Easton's Joel Barlow (13). Most other high-performing schools in the state were in Fairfield County or in the western Hartford suburbs.

Wilton's student-teacher ratio of 14:1 was slightly below Weston's 13:1 but equal to the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering's ratio. Wilton had 57.8 percent of students taking the AP exam passing, while Weston had 65.1.

Proficiency in math and reading was based on each state's "exit exam."

"We compared each school's math and reading proficiency rates for disadvantaged students with the statewide results for these student groups and then selected schools that were performing better than this state average," the magazine said in a description of its methodology for ranking schools.

Wilton scored 4.3 in math and 4.2 in reading under the magazine's scoring system. The Academy of Aerospace and Engineering (overall No. 1 in the state), scored lower than that: 3.9 and 4.1. Weston scored 4.3 and 4.3.

See the U.S. News Connecticut list for further comparisons.