Best Public Schools in Gunnison, CO

The city of Gunnison, Colorado is served by three public schools within the Gunnison Watershed School District Re1J — Gunnison Elementary School (PK–5, 560 students), Gunnison Middle School (6–8, 314 students), and Gunnison High School (9–12, 410 students) — totaling 1,284 students in a mountain community in west-central Colorado. While the district earns a 4-star rating and ranks in the 73rd percentile statewide, individual schools carry more modest 2-star rankings, with the middle school ranking highest among the three at the 44th percentile.

Gunnison High School stands out as the district's academic bright spot, surpassing state averages in SAT Reading/Writing (69% vs. 60%) and 11th-grade science (31.3% vs. 24.8%). It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 21.8%, below the district (25.6%) and state (28.4%). However, high school math remains a major concern, with only 22% proficient on SAT Math versus 32% statewide. Gunnison Middle School struggles most with attendance — 37.5% chronically absent — and its 8th-grade math proficiency (21.9%) lags the state by nearly 16 points, despite 6th-grade math (37.2%) exceeding the state average. Gunnison Elementary School, the largest of the three, has seen its ranking slide from the 51st to the 31st percentile over the past two years, and its ELA proficiency (27.2%) trails the state (44.7%) by more than 17 points.

Math and attendance are the district's most consistent challenges. All three schools trail the state in math proficiency, and the middle school's math scores decline sharply from 6th to 8th grade even as state averages rise. Chronic absenteeism exceeds the state rate (28.4%) at both the elementary (31.0%) and middle school (37.5%) levels. Free/reduced lunch rates are similar across the schools (40–45%), so poverty alone doesn't explain the performance gaps. The high school's strong reading and science results suggest improvement is possible, but families should pay close attention to math achievement and attendance trends when evaluating these schools.