A Comparison of Stamford Elementary Schools

Thinking about moving to get your child into a different school? The information in this section can help you make an informed decision. Bear in mind though that the Board of Education is planning to redistrict the schools! Your loved ones may not end up going to the school you wanted them to go to.

Elementary schools go from Kindergarten through grade five (K-5). Some schools are chartered as magnet schools, others are district schools. Which school is best for your kid?

Most parents use CMT or other standardized test scores to gauge school performance, and rightly so. A good school will produce students that achieve high scores. But the average test scores of a school may not be the right thing to look at. Schools with a larger percentage of minority students tend to have lower average test scores, but that may be mostly for demographic reasons rather than the quality of the curriculum and teaching. It makes more sense to look at the subgroup your child belongs to, and go to a school where that subgroup is  performing well.

Newfield's average score for instance is buoyed by the fact that it draws its students from a mostly majority district, and ranks sixth by average score. But if you look at the performance of the majority subgroup, Newfield ranks 10th, and only two schools (Springdale and Roxbury) fair worse. Many parents who move into the Newfield district in search of a "better" school are dismayed to find out that the curriculum is weak, there are no advanced math classes, and students generally have to do much less homework than in the school they went to before.

The obvious no-brainer is the Westover magnet school, since it ranks first every way you look at it. The principal (who unfortunately is about to retire) runs a tight ship and through a  combination of measures such as grouping students by ability, pushing the teachers to work harder, and a tough curriculum, Westover produces academic achievement on par with the surrounding wealthier school districts. But alas, unless you live in the Westover district, the chances of getting into Westover as a majority student are slim, since mostly minority students are admitted in order to achieve the board's goal of racial balance (see policy 5117.2 and this letter). If you also happen to live in a school district that has a shortage of majority students (Hart/Stark/Rogers/KT Murphy), you have a snowball's chance in hell of getting your child admitted. Your kid may also be denied admission if he or she is a minority student, and is applying from a district with a shortage of minority students (Newfield/Northeast/Roxbury).

The data in the table below is mostly taken from the  database of Connecticut Master Test (CMT) results provided by the state of Connecticut. The table is ranked in ascending order of majority (white/asian) subgroup CMT math scores (since reading scores are more influenced by the fraction of non-native English speakers), but also minority math scores and average reading scores are provided. Notice  how in particular Springdale is the second best school for minority students, but the second worst for majority pupils. If you want to get more into the details, you can find more tables here, or you can go to the CT State Department of Education's web site .



School
 CMT 2006
math average
raw score
(asian+white)
5th grade
 CMT 2006
math average
raw score
(black+hispanic
+am.indian)
5th grade
 CMT 2006
Reading
Comprehension
average
Raw Score
(5th grade)
 CMT 2006
Math average
Raw Score
(5th grade)
 CMT 2006
Writing
Editing &
Revising
Raw Score
(5th grade)
 school type

rank
 score
 rank
 score



Westover
 1
 121.1
 1
 105.8
 32.2
 114.5
 28.4
 magnet (mastery learning,
arts, problem solving)
Toquam
 2
 117.5
 10
 87.4
 29.6
 103.7
 26.3
 magnet (social studies)
Northeast
 3
 116.7
 5
 93.6
 29.4
 106.8
 26.0
 district
Davenport Ridge
 4
 112.8
 12
 87.3
 28.9
 101.7
 25.9
 district
Hart
 5
 111.3
 11
 87.3
 26.2
 96.4
 24.7
 magnet (math, science, tech.)
Stamford Average
110.9
92.2
 28.5
 101.4
 25.2
K T Murphy
 6
 110.1
 4
 97.1
 27.8
 101.7
 23.4
 district
Rogers
 7
 108.4
 7
 89.5
 27.3
 95.1
 23.5
 magnet (science,  math, art,
reading, technology)
Julia A Stark
 8
 108.4
 6
 91.8
 27.0
 98.1
 23.9
 district
Stillmeadow
 9
 108.2
 3
 98.0
 29.3
 102.9
 25.4
 district
Newfield
 10
 108.2
 8
 88.5
 28.7
 99.8
 25.5
 district
State Average
106.9
85.8
 28.5
 100.8
 25.5
Springdale
 11
 104.7
 2
 99.3
 27.6
 102.0
 25.0
 district
Roxbury
 12
 102.9
 9
 88.2
 28.3
 97.2
 24.7
 district