Waterbury Arts Magnet School, Waterbury CT

Original Research by School Decision on Waterbury Arts Magnet School

Waterbury Arts Magnet School is a sixth-through-twelfth-grade public school serving a diverse student body in Connecticut's fifth-largest city. The school draws students from across the Waterbury district and sits in the downtown Arts and Education District, a zone of redevelopment that has brought higher education, civic amenities, and residential conversion to the city's center.

The school's student composition reflects the demographics of Waterbury itself. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating families with economic need. The racial and ethnic makeup is notably varied: roughly equal numbers of Hispanic and white students, a smaller but meaningful share of Black students, and small populations of Asian and multiracial students. The overall enrollment sits at a moderate size for a combined middle and high school, distributed fairly evenly across grades six through twelve.

Testing data from the most recent state assessment shows what a parent should understand as a mixed academic picture. The school's performance is strongest in English language arts, where a majority of students in grades six and seven met proficiency benchmarks, and a substantial share of eighth graders did so as well. Reading and writing instruction is clearly registering with a good portion of the student body. Math proficiency is lower across all tested grades: roughly a quarter of sixth graders, close to two-fifths of seventh and eighth graders, met the benchmark. Science proficiency at eighth grade sits just under half. These numbers reflect a school where foundational academic work in quantitative and science reasoning remains a challenge; a parent may want to look into what supports the school offers for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, and what progression to high school mathematics looks like.

The school's position within Naugatuck Valley Planning Region districts is above the midpoint for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. Data on the school's graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, and disciplinary environment were not available; this is typical information that does appear for some high schools and would be worth asking the school directly about if you are considering it for a ninth-to-twelfth-grade pathway.

The arts designation is the school's defining feature, though specific program details were not in the available data. The magnet status, together with its downtown location and proximity to UConn Waterbury, the Mattatuck Museum, and the Palace Theater, suggests a deliberate design to link curriculum and school identity to the arts and cultural resources of the community. For a family prioritizing arts access and immersion, this location and focus is relevant context. For a family seeking a traditional neighborhood high school, the magnet emphasis and district-wide draw would be a different kind of choice.

Waterbury itself is in the midst of downtown revitalization; transit access is strong via Metro-North commuter rail and local bus networks, and housing stock has been shifting from traditional single-family neighborhoods to adaptive reuse apartments and mixed-income developments near the city center. Housing values in the area are moderate compared to state benchmarks. The district has implemented universal free breakfast and lunch and launched the Waterbury Promise, a last-dollar college scholarship for graduates attending any accredited Connecticut college, which reduces financial barriers to higher education for Waterbury public school students. Early-grade literacy instruction in the district has been approved under the state's Right to Read law, meaning the district's existing science-of-reading approach continues.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=95%Cohort of 98 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

205 schools plotted. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 15% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 15% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 13% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 28% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 28% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 29% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 23% · ▲ 25 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolWaterbury 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 7Lower-income54%Higher-income85%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income22%Higher-income42%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income56%23 pp gap