When considering Stamford's school rating you need to consider the context of Stamford. This is a city next to many phenomenally wealthy suburban towns. Our neighbors are Greenwich, New Canaan, and Darien. Average home in Greenwich is $2.4M, New Canaan is $1.7M, Darien is $1.6M. Stamford? $600k. The wealth is a good indicator for other factors. Stamford is the most diverse city in Connecticut. Our neighbors are uniquely not diverse.

Lower incomes and more diverse student demographic means you need more educational services with less money. If your kid is average in Greenwich you may get a ton of services to help them out, but if they're average in Stamford they might not. Additionally, Stamford may not have as much funding for extracurricular activities these parents care about more. These are reasons they may call the school "bad" but that's not really the situation.

That's not the whole story. Stamford schools are not immune to criticism, but the ratings are not an accurate picture.