The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in Math. The lowest is 31% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Regan School
Regan School is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Waterbury, Connecticut. The school sits on North Main Street in a city that has undergone significant downtown revitalization in recent years, with growing amenities including a relocated UConn campus, new arts magnet schools, and expanded transit connections via Metro-North rail.
The school's enrollment is small, drawing from a neighborhood with substantial economic need. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with sizable Black and smaller Asian and white populations. English learner status and special education counts were not reported in available data.
Academic performance reflects real challenges. In math, third-grade students show the strongest results, with roughly three in five meeting or exceeding state proficiency standards. By fifth grade, however, proficiency drops sharply to less than one in five students. English language arts follows a similar pattern: third graders perform better than fourth and fifth graders, with fifth-grade proficiency at less than one in four students. Science proficiency in fifth grade is around three in ten students. Across all tested subjects and grades, Regan's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile compared to other districts in the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.
The trend data available covers only the most recent school year, so whether these results reflect an ongoing pattern or recent change cannot be determined from the data provided. A parent may want to look into this further with the school and district, particularly regarding what interventions are in place for upper elementary grades and what factors the school identifies as contributing to the decline in proficiency from grade three to grade five.
Waterbury School District itself has made some notable moves in recent years. Universal free breakfast and lunch were implemented across all schools, removing financial barriers to meals. The district also received a full waiver under Connecticut's Right to Read legislation, meaning its existing science-of-reading approach for K-3 literacy instruction was deemed evidence-based and approved to continue without change. Additionally, the Waterbury Promise scholarship program launched to provide last-dollar college aid to local high school graduates, though that benefit applies downstream from Regan's grade band.
The city context is a mixed-use former manufacturing hub with ongoing adaptive reuse and downtown development. Housing values and rents in the 06704 zip code are moderate relative to Connecticut as a whole, and the employment base includes health care, retail, and specialized manufacturing alongside government and education sectors. Waterbury has walkable downtown streets, public transit including commuter rail, and anchor institutions such as hospitals and universities, though neighborhoods vary in character from densely built downtown corridors to quieter residential areas.
For families considering Regan, the school offers elementary education in an economically diverse neighborhood within a district that has made deliberate moves on nutrition access and early literacy instruction. The academic results, however, show that proficiency is uneven across grades, with particular softness in the upper elementary years, warranting conversation with school leadership about instructional approaches and academic support systems.
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