NCES CCD 2024-25 13 schools CT

Best-Resourced Schools in Manchester, CT

Compiled from official source data by .

13 public K-12 schools in Manchester from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
13
Schools
7,246
Students
43.8/100
Avg Resource Index
10.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Manchester has more public-school enrollment than 70% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Manchester sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

A full K–12 ladder sits inside the city boundary

Manchester's list includes 6 elementary, 1 middle, and 3 high-school campuses, plus 3 combined-grade records. The city average spans every major grade stage, so the ranked table is more informative when read within level than as one interchangeable queue.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 24-point gap between Illing Middle School and Verplanck School shows the range hidden by Manchester's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 30%
School count
Top 28%
Resource Index average
64th percentile
Teacher staffing
97th percentile

Manchester High School accounts for 23.5% of all Manchester public-school enrollment

That concentration means Manchester-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Manchester school enrollment varies 6.8× across entities

Manchester school enrollment ranges from 250 students (lowest) to 1,703 students (highest), a spread of 1,453 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Manchester student-teacher ratio is 10.6:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Illing Middle School 56
2. Odyssey Community School 52
3. Buckley School 52
4. Manchester High School 50
5. Keeney School 48
6. Elisabeth M. Bennet Academy 44
7. Highland Park School 44
8. Martin School 42
9. Great Path Academy at Mcc 40
10. Howell Cheney Technical High School 39
11. Waddell School 35
12. Bowers School 35
13. Verplanck School 32

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Manchester

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Odyssey Community School 78.0/100
  2. 2 Waddell School 75.9/100
  3. 3 Buckley School 74.7/100
  4. 4 Keeney School 73.0/100
  5. 5 Manchester High School 72.8/100

What do families ask about schools in Manchester?

Which Manchester school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Illing Middle School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Manchester schools in this federal-data comparison at 56/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Manchester, CT? ▼

Manchester has 13 public schools with a total enrollment of 7,246 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 10.6:1.

Other Cities in Connecticut

Bridgeport
44 schools
Hartford
44 schools
New Haven
42 schools
Waterbury
32 schools
Norwalk
23 schools
Stamford
23 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Connecticut →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.