Best Public Schools in New Castle, CO

New Castle, Colorado is served by four public schools within the Garfield School District No. Re-2 — Coal Ridge High School (grades 9–12), Riverside School (grades 6–8), Kathryn Senor Elementary School (PK–5), and Elk Creek Elementary (PK–5) — together enrolling about 1,608 students, with the district overall ranking in the 20th percentile statewide but individual schools varying significantly.

The clear standout is Riverside School, which ranks in the 53rd percentile with a 3-star rating and has the city’s lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 7.3% (state: 28.4%). Its English Language Arts proficiency is nearly at the state average, and its math proficiency jumped from 22.3% to 29.9% in one year. Coal Ridge High School is also strong at the secondary level, ranking at the 50th percentile with a graduation rate of 91.5% and SAT scores above the state average in both reading/writing and math. Between the two elementary schools, Kathryn Senor is clearly the better option: it ranks in the 32nd percentile with a 2-star rating, outperforms Elk Creek in both ELA (29.6% vs. 23.4%) and math (33.9% vs. 26.2%), and its 3rd grade math proficiency is essentially at the state average. Elk Creek ranks in the 19th percentile with a 1-star rating and is the city’s lowest-performing school overall.

A few takeaways stand out for parents. Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low across all four schools, well below the state’s 28.4% rate. However, early elementary literacy is a major concern — only 21.6% of Kathryn Senor 3rd graders and 14.3% of Elk Creek 3rd graders are proficient in ELA, versus the state’s 40.8%. Science is also a citywide weakness, with every school below state averages and Coal Ridge’s 11th grade science proficiency dropping dramatically year over year. On a positive note, Coal Ridge’s 10th grade PSAT math results (50% proficient) far exceed the state average (39%), suggesting meaningful math gains during high school. While the district’s low rating can be discouraging, Riverside and Coal Ridge show that individual schools can outperform — but elementary literacy and science clearly need attention.