Idalia Rj-3 School District

The Idalia Rj-3 School District is a tiny, rural Colorado district with just two schools—Idalia Junior-Senior High School (grades 7–12, 79 students) and Idalia Elementary School (grades PK–6, 71 students)—sharing one campus in a close-knit community. Despite nearly 59% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, the district posts standout attendance and graduation numbers: chronic absenteeism is just 4.4% versus 28.4% statewide, and the high school reported a perfect 100% graduation rate with a 0% dropout rate in 2021–22. The elementary school's chronic absenteeism is nearly zero at about 0.6%, suggesting remarkably strong daily attendance across both buildings.

Comparing the two schools, both outperform the state in English language arts. In 2024–25, Idalia Elementary posted 65.6% CMAS ELA proficiency and Idalia Junior-Senior High posted 63.2%, both far above the state's 44.8%. Math is the clear weak spot: the elementary school hit 40.6% and the high school 36.8% in 2024–25, near or just above the state average of 35.9%. By 2025–26, both schools slipped further in ELA (elementary 48.5%, high school 43.5%) and math (elementary 30.3%, high school 39.1%). At the high school level, the PSAT10 gap is striking—69% proficiency in reading/writing versus just 25% in math, compared with state averages of 64% and 36%.

The high school's state ranking has dropped dramatically from the 88th percentile in 2022–23 to the 48th percentile in 2024–25, despite unchanged graduation and attendance strengths—likely reflecting volatility from very small class sizes. With favorable student-teacher ratios (8.3:1 at the elementary and 10.9:1 at the high school), tight-knit community support, and consistent ELA strengths, these schools offer a strong, supportive environment. The main opportunity for improvement is clearly mathematics, where targeted intervention could help close the gap with state averages.