Ridgefield High School is a public high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in Ridgefield, Connecticut

Ridgefield, Connecticut

Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S...

. It was voted #683 in Newsweek

Newsweek

Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

's 2010 list of the top 1600 high schools in America. The school mascot is the Tiger.

RHS has undergone massive and costly renovations in the past 5 years. Ridgefield High boasts many new facilities, including the two-story high, glass-enclosed Student Center and the all marble Student Life Office. (SLO)

Academic achievement

A total of 341 students took 754 advanced placement (AP) exams in May 2006, with 92.2 percent of exams with scores of 3 or higher. In the eight years up through the 2005-2006 school year, the number of students taking AP exams has tripled.

The school's dropout rate has remained consistent over the years at 1 percent. Daily attendance has been similarly steady at 95 percent.

District Reference Group A

For the purpose of comparison with the achievement levels of similar schools, the state Department of Education classifies schools and communities in "District Reference Groups", defined as "districts whose students' families are similar in education, income, occupation and need, and that have roughly similar enrollment". Ridgefield is one of eight school districts in District Reference Group A (the others are Darien, Easton, New Canaan, Redding, Weston, Westport, and Wilton).

Curriculum

In recent years a number of computer-related subjects have been added to the curriculum, including computer art, computer music, engineering (Project Lead the Way), digital design studio, and Advanced Placement Computer Science

Athletics

About 65 percent of the student body participates in at least one interscholastic athletic activity. Ridgefield High is a member of the FCIAC

FCIAC

FCIAC, the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, was established in 1961 and is made up of high schools throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA...

 Athletic conference. Each year RHS sends many students to play a variety of sports at the collegiate level.

Notable alumni

• Jared Bernstein
  Jared Bernstein
  Jared Bernstein is an American economist who previously served as Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration. In early 2009 Bernstein was named Executive Director of the newly formed White House Middle Class Working Families Task Force. He...
  
  , economist
• John H. Frey
  John H. Frey
  John H. Frey is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he is the State Representative from the 111th District , first elected in 1998. In the 2004 election, Frey won with 68.7% of the vote and was the highest vote-getter in the 151-member Connecticut House of...
  
   (1981), Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
• Bill Lawrence
  Bill Lawrence (producer)
  William Van Duzer Lawrence IV is an American screenwriter, producer, and director best known as the creator of Scrubs and co-creator of Cougar Town. Lawrence is married to the actress Christa Miller whom he cast in both television series; they have three children together...
  
  , writer/producer for shows such as Spin City
  Spin City
  Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
  
  and Scrubs
  Scrubs (TV series)
  Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
  
  .
• Curt Onalfo
  Curt Onalfo
  Curt Onalfo is an American former soccer player.As a player, he played two seasons in France, two in the USISL, one in Mexico and four in Major League Soccer, achieving his most success with Los Angeles Galaxy and D.C. United. He earned also earned one caps with the United States national team...
  
  , MLS
  Major League Soccer
  Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
  
   player and coach
• Erland van Lidth de Jeude
  Erland Van Lidth De Jeude
  Erland van Lidth de Jeude was a Dutch-born actor who appeared in several Hollywood films, as well as being a wrestler, an opera singer bass-baritone, and also worked with computers. While his large size Erland van Lidth de Jeude (June 3, 1953 - September 23, 1987) was a Dutch-born actor who...
  
  , actor, Olympic wrestler and computer scientist
• Chris Winnes
  Chris Winnes
  Christopher Robert Winnes is a retired professional ice hockey right winger who played parts of four seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.-Playing career:...
  
  , NHL
  National Hockey League
  The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
  
  player

External links

• Ridgefield High School Web page at Great Schools Web site
• Ridgefield High School "Strategic School Profile 2005-2006," Connecticut Department of Education