Beta You're viewing our redesigned school list. Prefer the classic layout?

School District No. 1


At a glance
71stof 115 Colorado districts▲ 5
Better than 38% of Colorado districts
1860 Lincoln St.
Denver, CO 80203-2996
·(720) 423-3200·All Colorado district rankings →
Statewide performance 2018–2026
2026: better than 38.3% of districts
198
Schools
90,471
Students
20
5-star schools
Top rankedPolaris Elementary School1st of 943 Colorado elementary schools
Biggest riser
Trevista at Horace Mann up 254 spots statewide this year
Smallest classes
Contemporary Learning Academy 8.4 students per teacher
Newly ranked this year
Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy and 6 more
SchoolDigger ratings
5★
4★
2★
1★
0★
39 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)
Summary:

School District No. 1 is a large urban district in Denver, CO, serving roughly 90,000 students across 196 schools, including 111 elementary schools, 30 middle schools, 54 high schools, and 1 alternative school. The district as a whole ranks 71st out of 115 Colorado districts, trailing the state on most measures: the graduation rate is 81.9% compared to the state's 85.6%, the dropout rate is double the state average, and chronic absenteeism stands at 38.1% versus 28.4% statewide. Academic proficiency across CMAS and SAT assessments generally trails Colorado averages, with the largest gaps in math and especially high school science, where only 18.2% of 11th graders are proficient.

Despite these district-wide challenges, several schools are nationally competitive. Polaris Elementary School has ranked #1 in Colorado for three straight years with ELA proficiency of 94.9% and chronic absenteeism of just 6.9%. Denver School of the Arts ranks #11 among high schools with a 96.6% graduation rate, while Morey Middle School ranks #11 among middle schools with 81.6% ELA proficiency. Westerly Creek Elementary (#13) and William (Bill) Roberts ECE-8 (#25) also rank in the top 3% of elementary schools. Even the district's largest high schools thrive: East High School (2,476 students) graduates 93.9% of students, and Northfield High School posts a 98.0% graduation rate.

At the other extreme, McGlone Academy (6.5% ELA proficiency) and Maxwell Elementary (6.3% math proficiency) rank near the bottom of Colorado's 943 elementary schools. Chronic absenteeism is the clearest warning sign: Florence Crittenton High School (99.3% absenteeism) and Emily Griffith High School (94.2%) graduate just 20% and 14.4% of students, respectively. However, poverty does not dictate outcomes — DSST: Montview High School serves a 69.9% free-and-reduced-lunch population yet ranks #142 in the state with a 95.8% graduation rate. And Bruce Randolph School illustrates a striking disconnect: despite ranking 332nd of 338 high schools on test scores, it graduates 95.9% of its students. The district's biggest opportunities lie in reducing chronic absenteeism, strengthening math and science instruction, and closing the enormous gap between its highest- and lowest-performing schools.

Showing the top 100 of 198 schools. Load all 198 schools.
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