West Hartford’s two public high schools ranked among Connecticut’s top schools in Niche’s 2027 school ratings, with William H. Hall High School placing 13th and Conard High School ranking 17th among the state’s public high schools.

By Mia Jaworksi

The rankings are part of Niche’s annual Best Schools and Districts in America report, which evaluated 93,000 public schools, 30,000 private schools and 11,000 school districts nationwide.

Hall High School places 13th among public high schools in Connecticut, and Conard at #17. West Hartford Public Schools received an overall grade of A from Niche and ranked sixteenth among Connecticut school districts, according to the report.

The district ranked 14th out of 129 for the state’s districts with the best teachers. Nationally, it ranked 375th among the best school districts and 336th among the best districts for athletes, out of more than 10,000 districts in each category.

Niche. Courtesy photo.

Niche’s ratings combine educational statistics with reviews and survey responses from students, parents and teachers. The organization uses data from the U.S. Department of Education and state education agencies, along with other sources, to compare schools and districts across the country.

Conard and Hall earn top-20 rankings

Conard High School, which serves approximately 1,380 students in grades nine through 12, received high marks across most categories in its Niche profile. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 14-to-1, according to the report.

State test results cited by Niche show that 51% of Conard students are proficient in math, while 76% are proficient in reading. The school’s lowest reported category grades were a C+ for food and a B for administration.

Hall High School ranked 13th among Connecticut’s public high schools. According to Niche, the school serves 1,332 students in grades nine through 12, with 63% of students proficient in math and 84% proficient in reading.

Hall’s profile also identified food and administration as comparatively weaker areas, with a C+ in food and a B- in administration.

The rankings offer a broad comparison of school performance, though the overall positions reflect multiple measures rather than test scores alone.

How Niche calculates its rankings

For its public high school rankings, Niche places the greatest weight on academics, which account for 60% of the overall evaluation. That category considers state assessment proficiency, college enrollment data and survey responses about academic quality.

Other factors include school culture and diversity, which account for 12.5%; overall student and parent experience, at 10%; and teacher quality, also at 10%. Clubs and activities, resources and facilities, and sports each account for 2.5%.

For the 2027 rankings, Niche removed SAT and ACT scores from its methodology, reflecting a broader shift away from standardized test scores in college admissions. The organization also introduced pilot grades for student wellness and future readiness, which examine areas such as access to counseling, career services and exposure to emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.

The district and high school rankings measure different aspects of education. While the district rating considers performance across a school system, the high school rankings compare individual schools using academic outcomes, school experiences and other indicators.

For West Hartford, the results place both Conard and Hall among Connecticut’s highest-ranked public high schools while recognizing the district as a whole for its overall performance.

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