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State Charter School Institute


At a glance
51stof 114 Colorado districts▼ 1
Better than 55% of Colorado districts
1525 Sherman St. Suite B76
Denver, CO 80203
·(303) 866-3299·All Colorado district rankings →
Statewide performance 2018–2026
2026: better than 55.3% of districts
48
Schools
19,252
Students
1
5-star school
Top rankedColorado Early Colleges Douglas County30th of 340 Colorado high schools
Biggest riser
Community Leadership Academy up 125 spots statewide this year
Smallest classes
Animas High School 10.9 students per teacher
Newly ranked this year
Academy of Advanced Learning and 1 more
SchoolDigger ratings
4★
3★
2★
1★
0★
24 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)
Summary:

The State Charter School Institute oversees 44 Colorado public charter schools spanning elementary, middle, high, and alternative grade configurations, serving roughly 19,928 students across the state. The district is ranked 49th out of 115 Colorado districts, but this aggregate ranking masks enormous variation: individual schools range from 0-star to 5-star ratings. Enrollment varies widely too, from small schools like Monument View Montessori Charter School with just 38 students to The Pinnacle Charter School with 1,905 students.

Some schools in this network are among the strongest in Colorado. Golden View Classical Academy leads with exceptional SAT performance (97% Reading/Writing, 76% Math) and low 8.0% chronic absenteeism. Mountain Middle School posts the highest CMAS scores in the network (63.5% ELA, 63.3% Math) with just 6.6% chronic absenteeism. Steamboat Montessori and Axis International Academy are strong elementary options, while Colorado Early Colleges Douglas County earned 5-star ratings and an 88.7% graduation rate. At the other end of the spectrum, Ricardo Flores Magon Academy (2.6% math proficiency) and Montessori del Mundo Charter School (6.9% math proficiency) are among the lowest-performing schools in the state. New Legacy Charter School and New America School - Aurora report severe challenges with 87% and 80.8% chronic absenteeism and graduation rates of just 38.1% and 13.0%, respectively.

Several important patterns emerge from this data. First, a high graduation rate does not guarantee academic readiness: The Pinnacle Charter School graduates 94.2% of students yet only 6.7% are proficient in math. Second, attendance is a powerful separator between high and low performers. Third, math is the network's biggest challenge, with many schools showing steep reading-math gaps. That said, 11th-grade science is a bright spot, with Golden View Classical Academy (62.5%) and Ascent Classical Academy of Douglas County (60.0%) far exceeding the state's 24.8% proficiency rate. School size is not a reliable predictor of success, and data gaps for newer schools like Colorado Skies Academy and Wildflower Montessori Public Schools of Colorado Aurora limit full comparison.

AllElementaryMiddleHighAlternative
Ranking:
Map legend
E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private




Districts nearby

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Colorado Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.

Diagnostics