Best Public Schools in Ault, CO

Ault, Colorado, is served by a small two-school public system—Highland High School and Highland Middle School—both part of Weld County School District No. Re-9, a 1-star district ranked in the 13th percentile statewide, with no elementary or alternative schools listed in the data. The district's challenges are shared across both campuses, as Highland High School ranks in the 27th percentile (248th of 338) and Highland Middle School ranks in the 28th percentile (337th of 469) statewide. Families looking at this area should know they are evaluating a district where systemic issues appear to affect both buildings equally, rather than one school being a clear outlier.

Highland High School is the only high school, serving grades 9-12 with 299 students, and it showed genuine strength in reading/writing during the 2024-2025 school year, beating the state on both 9th and 10th grade PSAT exams. However, those scores declined in 2025-2026, and math is a major concern—only 15% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT math compared to 32% statewide, with similar gaps at 9th and 10th grade. Highland Middle School, serving grades 6-8 with 234 students, has a single bright spot: 7th grade math (33.3% vs. 32.9% statewide). Elsewhere, middle school proficiency is well behind the state—overall ELA is just 19.7% vs. 44.7% statewide, and 8th grade ELA drops to 12.5%. The middle school also struggles with chronic absenteeism at 32.0%, while the high school's rate of 21.3% is actually better than the state average of 28.4%.

Graduation and dropout rates add to the concern: Highland High School's graduation rate is 77.3%, exactly matching the district rate but well below the state's 85.6%, while its dropout rate of 1.8% edges past the state's 1.6%. Interestingly, poverty levels are relatively modest—only about 29-31% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch—so the academic struggles are not simply a poverty story. The uneven grade-level patterns at the middle school, where 7th grade is the strongest year but 8th grade ELA falls sharply, suggest curriculum alignment or transition issues between grade levels. Overall, families should understand that while there are meaningful bright spots, the shared district rating, low math performance across both schools, elevated middle school absenteeism, and below-average graduation rates point to a need for systemic improvement efforts that would benefit both schools together.