Best Public Schools in Parker, CO

The city of Parker, Colorado is home to 27 schools, including 19 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 5 high schools, all part of the highly-ranked Douglas County School District No. Re 1. This district is ranked 9th out of 115 in the state and has a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger, indicating a quality education system overall.

Several schools stand out as exceptional performers, including Parker Core Knowledge Charter School, ranked 11th in the state for elementary schools, and North Star Academy, another high-achieving charter elementary/middle school. Additionally, Gold Rush Elementary, a top-performing public school, and Colorado Early Colleges Douglas County, a public charter high school ranked 24th in the state, are standouts in the district.

While the district overall performs well, with high graduation rates and low dropout rates, there is a significant gap in academic achievement between the highest and lowest-performing schools. Proficiency rates range from 40% to over 90%, and chronic absenteeism is a concern across the district, with most schools reporting over 27% of students chronically absent. These disparities suggest opportunities to learn from the practices of the top-performing schools and apply them more broadly to support student success throughout the Parker school system.