Conte/west Hills Magnet School, New Haven CT

Original Research by School Decision on Conte/west Hills Magnet School

Conte/West Hills Magnet School serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in New Haven, with an enrollment that spans early childhood through middle grades. The school is located on Chapel Street in the heart of New Haven's civic district, near downtown.

The student body is predominantly Latino and Black, with a substantial share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This composition reflects New Haven's demographic profile and speaks to the neighborhood the school serves. The school draws from a city neighborhood with dense residential and commercial life rather than a separate campus setting.

Academic performance on state testing presents a clear picture. Across tested grades and subjects, proficiency rates are notably low. In math, tested grades three through eight show proficiency in the low to mid range, with fewer than roughly a third of students meeting proficiency benchmarks in any grade; seventh and eighth grade math are particularly soft. English language arts shows a similar pattern, with proficiency rates in the low double digits through sixth grade. Science proficiency at fifth and eighth grade is also in the single digits to low double digits. Two grades suppress their ELA results, a practice states use when sample sizes are very small.

Looking at the broader picture, when proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits in the bottom quartile among the district's county peer schools. This is a real gap and merits conversation with school leadership about where the school is in its improvement trajectory, what specific supports exist for students falling behind, and what teaching strategies are being deployed to address the proficiency challenge.

The district itself underwent a major literacy overhaul in 2023, moving to a phonics-based science of reading approach with a single core curriculum across all schools. This structural change was meant to ensure every student in a given grade learns from the same program rather than having different lessons school to school. Early reports indicate the shift has begun to move reading growth rates, though effects are still unfolding. For a school like Conte/West Hills with the proficiency profile shown here, this curriculum change is a material fact; families might reasonably ask what year-to-year improvement the school is seeing as the new program takes root.

The district has faced budget strain since 2024 due to the end of federal pandemic support and rising personnel costs, leading to unfilled positions and concerns about potential class size increases. A 2023 teachers' contract does cap standard class sizes at 26 for kindergarten through second grade and 27 for grades three through twelve through 2026, providing some structural protection. Families considering this school would want to ask about current staffing levels and any anticipated changes.

The school sits in New Haven, a city in active growth with new housing units coming online and major transit projects underway. The locale is walkable, with downtown anchored by the New Haven Green and civic institutions, Yale campus woven into the commercial core rather than set apart, and strong transit through Union Station. For families seeking an urban neighborhood school in a growing, culturally mixed city with good bones and real investment, New Haven itself offers that environment. The school's academic performance and the district's literacy transition are the substance to evaluate against that context.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 318%

School 18% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 20% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 13% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 17% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 19% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 14% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 17% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 23% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 45 pts below county median

Grade 614%

School 14% · District 26% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 24% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 25% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolNew Haven School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.