Darien High School Among Top 25 In CT, New Ranking Says

DARIEN, CT — Darien High School is among the best public schools in Connecticut and the country, according to new rankings from the education platform Niche.

Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings include data on 94,058 public schools, 30,809 private schools and 12,192 school districts.

DHS was named the fifth-best public high school in the state, behind New Canaan High School, Staples High School, Wilton High School and Greenwich High School. A separate survey by U.S. News & World Report had DHS in fourth place in the state.

This year’s full rankings include 7,375 newly ranked public schools.

Below are the top 25 public high schools in Connecticut, according to Niche:

1. New Canaan High School, New Canaan
2. Staples High School, Westport
3. Wilton High School, Wilton
4. Greenwich High School, Greenwich
5. Darien High School, Darien
6. Center for Global Studies, Norwalk
7. Avon High School, Avon
8. Conard High School, West Hartford
9. Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury
10. Marine Science Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut, Groton
11. Weston High School, Weston
12. Farmington High School, Farmington
13. Fairfield Warde High School, Fairfield
14. Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield
15. Daniel Hand High School, Madison
16. The Academy of Information Technology & Engineering, Stamford
17. Hall High School, West Hartford
18. Simsbury High School, Simsbury
19. Guilford High School, Guilford
20. East Lyme High School, East Lyme
21. Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Fairfield
22. Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy, East Hartford
23. Cheshire High School, Cheshire
24. Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge
25. Joel Barlow High School, Redding

You can view the full rankings here.

In addition to ranking No. 5 overall in Connecticut, DHS also ranked No. 48 out of 21,129 schools in the country for athletes.

Niche said its rankings, now in the ninth year, differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.

The company said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet.

As in previous years, the Best Schools rankings include categories for boarding, charter and magnet schools as well as schools for STEM and the arts among many others.

— Rich Kirby, Patch Staff, contributed to this story.