Dwight Elementary School vs Holland Hill School

Holland Hill School ranks #7 of 990 Connecticut elementary schools, placing it in the top 1% statewide. Dwight Elementary School is no slouch — at #37 of 990, it sits comfortably in the top 4% — but the 30-position gap is meaningful when both schools draw from the same Fairfield neighborhood base just 3.2 miles apart. Holland Hill School's overall rating of 9.5/10 edges Dwight Elementary School's 9.1/10 by 0.4 points, a delta driven primarily by growth rather than raw academic output.

On academics, the two schools are essentially tied: Dwight Elementary School scores 9.7/10 versus Holland Hill School's 9.6/10, a difference too small to drive a decision. Where Holland Hill School separates itself is growth — a 9.9/10 growth score against Dwight Elementary School's 9.5/10. That four-tenths gap signals that Holland Hill School is accelerating students at a faster rate relative to their starting points, which matters more over a six-year elementary run than a snapshot proficiency number.

The demographic picture differs sharply. Holland Hill School enrolls 379 students versus 231 at Dwight Elementary School, making it a substantially larger campus. Free and reduced lunch eligibility stands at 25% at Holland Hill School versus 8% at Dwight Elementary School — meaning Holland Hill School serves a broader socioeconomic range while still posting the higher overall rating. Both schools run nearly identical student-teacher ratios: 13.6:1 at Dwight Elementary School, 13.1:1 at Holland Hill School, so classroom access to adults is comparable at either campus.

Both Dwight Elementary School and Holland Hill School serve grades KG–05, so families face no structural difference in grade span or school transitions. The choice comes down entirely to size, community composition, and the growth trajectory data — not program architecture.