Darien High School came out tops in Connecticut in the latest U.S. News & World Report high school rankings, and the school tied for No. 1 nationwide in “math and reading proficiency.”
The magazine ranked the school 201st out of 17,857 U.S. News looked at across the nation, including 205 in Connecticut..
The magazine has six factors in ranking high schools besides math and reading proficiency (which accounted for 20% of the overall ranking scores). The biggest factor is “college readiness,” which accounts for 30% (Darien ranked 6th in the state; 539th nationwide).
The other factors: “math and reading performance,” which was 20% of the overall score (Darien ranked No. 12 in the state; it tied for 986th nationwide);
The other factors: “college curriculum breadth” (10% of the overall score; Darien ranks 6th in Connecticut; 348th, nationwide); and “graduation rate” (10%; Darien is tied for 28th best in the state; it tied for 1,633rd, nationwide).
(For more information on how U.S. News ranks high schools, see this Web page on the magazine’s website.)
The magazine also ranked schools in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math): In that area, DHS was ranked 100th best in the nation and the best in Connecticut.
These are the top-ranked Connecticut public high schools in the magazine’s 2021 survey:
(1) Darien High School
(2) Marine Science Magnet School of Southeastern Connecticut (in Groton)
(3) Weston High School
(4) Staples High School in Westport
(5) New Canaan High School
(6) Wilton High School
(7) Greenwich High School
(8) Ridgefield High School
(9) Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy in East Hartford
(10) Conard High School in West Hartford