Summary:
Kiowa County School District No. Re-1 is a small rural district in Colorado serving 211 students across three schools: Eads Elementary School (PK–5), Eads Middle School (6–8), and Eads High School (9–12). The district substantially outperforms Colorado state averages, posting 2025–2026 CMAS proficiency rates of 62.3% in ELA and 58.4% in math versus 44.7% and 37.3% statewide — an achievement made more notable by the fact that all three schools have majority low-income populations, with free/reduced-price lunch eligibility ranging from 61.4% to 69.75%.
Among the three schools, Eads Middle School is the standout by state ranking, placing 47th out of 469 Colorado middle schools in 2024–2025 (90th percentile, 5 stars) and posting an exceptional 83.3% proficiency rate in 8th-grade science compared to 36.4% statewide. Eads Elementary School holds the district's highest core test scores at 80% ELA and 77.5% math proficiency, improving by roughly 14 points in both subjects year over year. Eads High School offers a highly personalized setting with a 7.7:1 student-teacher ratio, a 100% graduation rate (2021–2022), and SAT scores above state averages in reading/writing (62% vs. 60%), math (38% vs. 32%), and science (37.5% vs. 24.8%).
Parents should keep in mind that with only 44 middle school students and 48 high school students, test scores can swing sharply from year to year based on a single cohort's strengths; for example, Eads Middle School's ELA proficiency moved from 72.5% to 43.2% between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026. Chronic absenteeism is a bright spot, with the district rate of 10.8% far below the state's 28.4%, though Eads High School's 16.3% rate is the highest locally. Science instruction is a clear district strength, particularly at the middle school level, and the district's small-school model appears to support strong outcomes despite funding and poverty challenges. Overall, this is a high-performing rural district that consistently beats state averages across multiple measures.
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