New Canaan Is CT's Top Public High School: New Rankings Released For 2017-18

With the 2017-18 school year underway, curious parents and students can see how their high school stacks up against others in the state as Niche.com has released its annual rankings of the best public high schools in Connecticut and the country.

The list of the best public high schools in Connecticut was compiled by based on criteria such as academics and outcomes. Fairfield County claims six of the top 10 spots, with Hartford County grabbing three spots and one to New Haven County.

Tops in Connecticut is New Canaan High School, followed by Westport's Staples High School, Greenwich High School, Darien High School and Weston High School in fifth.

Nationally, the best high school is Chicago's Walter Payton College Prep, followed by Northside College Preparatory High School, also in Chicago, and Lincolnshire, Illinois' Adlai E. Stevenson High School in third. Click here to view the full national list.

Niche, a website for researching schools, used a variety of factors, including SAT/ACT scores, student-teacher ratio, the quality of colleges students consider and reviews from students and parents for its ranking. Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. (To receive free news alerts from your hometown in Connecticut click here.)

Here is the list of the best public high schools in Connecticut:

1. New Canaan High School
2. Staples High School - Westport
3. Greenwich High School
4. Darien High School
5. Weston High School
6. Wilton High School
7. Glastonbury High School
8. Simsbury High School
9. Conard High School- West Hartford
10. Amity Regional High School - Woodbridge
11. Ridgefield High School
12. The Academy of Information Technology - Stamford
13. Avon High School
14. Joel Barlow High School - Redding
15. Fairfield Warde High School
16. Farmington High School
17. East Lyme High School
18. Fairfield Ludlowe High School
19. Masuk High School - Monroe
20. Trumbull High School
21. Hall High School - West Hartford
22. Newtown High School
23. Academy of Aerospace & Engineering - Hartford
24. Valley Regional High School - Deep River
25. Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy - East Hartford
26. Marine Science Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut - Groton
27. The Woodstock Academy - Woodstock
28. Pomperaug Regional High School - Southbury
29. Canton High School
30. Guilford High School
31. Lyme-Old Lyme High School - Old Lyme
32. Norwich Free Academy - Norwich
33. North Haven High School
34. Suffield High School
35. Cheshire High School
36. Daniel Hand High School - Madison
37. Bethel High School
38. Litchfield High School
39. E. O. Smith High School - Mansfield
40. Westbrook High School - Westbrook
41. South Windsor High School
42. Granby Memorial High School
43. Ledyard High School
44. East Hampton High School
45. Plainville High School
46. RHAM High School - Hebron
47. Brookfield High School
48. New Milford High School
49. University High School of Science and Engineering - Hartford
50. Haddam-Killingworth High School - Higganum
51. Lewis S. Mills High School - Burlington
52. Rocky Hill High School
53. Bolton High School
54. Engineering-Science University Magnet School - New Haven
55. Waterford High School
56. Oxford High School
57. Old Saybrook High School
58. Mark T. Sheehan High School - Wallingford
59. Housatonic Valley Regional High School - Falls Village
60. Waterbury Arts Magnet School - Waterbury
61. Joseph A. Foran High School - Milford
62. East Granby High School - East Granby
63. Westhill High School - Stamford
64. Branford High School - Branford
65. Lyman Hall High School - Wallingford
66. Cromwell High School
67. Southington High School
68. Robert E. Fitch High School - Groton
69. Nonnewaug High School - Woodbury
70. Coginchaug Regional High School - Durham
71. Common Ground High School - New Haven
72. The Morgan School - Clinton
73. Newington High School
74. Stonington High School
75. Bacon Academy - Colchester
76. Jonathan Law High School - Milford
77. Northwestern Regional High School - Winsted
78. North Branford High School
79. Somers High School
80. Montville High School
81. Shelton High School
82. Bristol Central High School
83. Manchester High School
84. Coventry High School
85. Windsor High School
86. Brien McMahon High School - Norwalk
87. Wethersfield High School
88. Nathan Hale-Ray High School - East Haddam
89. Ellington High School
90. Hamden High School
91. Medical Professions & Teacher Preparation Academy - Windsor
92. Wamogo Regional High School - Litchfield
93. Enfield High School
94. Ansonia High School
95. Middletown High School
96. Portland High School
97. Cooperative High School - New Haven
98. Tolland High School - Tolland
99. Shepaug Valley School - Washington
100. Danbury High School

To view the Connecticut list and what Niche.com said about each school, click here.

To view the national list on Niche.com, click here.

Image via Pixabay

— By Joe Lipovich (Patch Staff)

(Editor's Note: Patch is re-posting this story in case you missed it the first time around.)