Clear Creek School District No. Re-1

Clear Creek School District No. Re-1 is a small Colorado mountain district serving five schools—three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school—with a total enrollment of 634 students. King-Murphy Elementary School is the district’s clear standout, ranked in the 81st percentile statewide with the lowest poverty rate (17.2% free/reduced lunch) and the lowest chronic absenteeism (12.1%). It also posts the highest test scores, with 58.9% ELA proficiency and 45.3% math proficiency, well above district and state averages. Meanwhile, Clear Creek Middle School is the biggest improvement story, jumping from the 13th to the 50th percentile in one year, with math proficiency nearly tripling from 11.5% to 28.9%.

Clear Creek High School graduates students at an impressive 93.5% rate, but struggles with chronic absenteeism (35.9%), a dropout rate above state average, and very low SAT math proficiency at just 16%. Carlson Elementary School faces the greatest challenges: it has the district’s highest poverty rate (43.1%), highest elementary absenteeism (35.6%), and 3rd-grade ELA proficiency of only 18.2% versus the state’s 40.8%. The contrast between King-Murphy and Carlson is stark—two elementary schools in the same district with very different socioeconomic and attendance profiles, showing how closely poverty and absenteeism track with achievement.

Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide concern, with four of five schools above or near 20%, and only King-Murphy comfortably below state norms. Georgetown Community School is quietly strong, exceeding district and state averages in both ELA and math while enjoying the lowest student-teacher ratio (9.3). With school enrollments ranging from 78 to 151 students, grade-level data can swing dramatically from year to year, so parents should look at multi-year trends rather than single-year results. The district’s biggest opportunity is reducing absenteeism and narrowing the elementary achievement gap while supporting the middle school’s recent momentum.