Yuma 1 School District

Yuma 1 School District is a small, three-school district serving grades K-12 in Yuma, Colorado, with roughly 761 students across one elementary, one middle, and one high school.

Across the district, all three schools serve similar high-poverty populations, with 62.8% to 64.5% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, and all benefit from small class sizes with student-teacher ratios between 12.1 and 13.1. Yuma Middle School stands out as the academic leader, earning the district's best state percentile (41st) with strong ELA proficiency, particularly in 5th and 6th grades. However, it also has the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 34.1%, meaning about one in three students is chronically absent. Kenneth P Morris Elementary School excels in attendance with the lowest chronic absenteeism at 18.1%, and shows promising improvement, with ELA proficiency jumping from 22.2% to 31.9% in one year and math proficiency outpacing the district average. Yuma High School presents the most concern, holding the lowest ranking (25th percentile), a 1-star rating, a graduation rate of 78.0% below the state's 85.6%, and very weak SAT scores, especially math at just 15% proficiency. Yet it shows a bright spot in 11th-grade science, where 35.7% proficiency exceeds the state's 24.8%.

The most pressing district-wide issue is math, where every school falls below state averages and the gap widens as students progress from elementary through high school. The middle school shows an intriguing 7th-grade ELA slump, dropping sharply from 52.1% in 6th grade to just 26.6% in 7th grade before recovering to 41.3% in 8th grade. Science scores are also volatile, with big year-over-year swings at both the middle and high school levels. The declining average grade size from elementary to secondary may indicate shrinking enrollment or students leaving the district. For parents, Yuma Middle School offers the strongest academics despite attendance challenges, Kenneth P Morris Elementary provides a stable foundation with good attendance and growth, while Yuma High School requires the most attention, particularly around college readiness and graduation outcomes.