Fremont Re-2

Fremont Re-2 is a small Colorado school district serving approximately 1,294 students across 3 schools — Florence Junior/Senior High School (grades 7–12), Fremont Elementary School (PK–6), and Penrose Elementary School (PK–6) — in the Florence and Penrose communities. The district overall ranks 107th out of 115 Colorado districts, placing it in the 7th percentile with a 0-star rating, so every school here operates well below state averages on most measures.

Penrose Elementary School stands out as the district's strongest performer. It posts the highest math proficiency (23.6%) and ELA proficiency (29.8%), has the lowest chronic absenteeism (28.1%), and offers the most favorable student-teacher ratio (13.0). Its state ranking improved from the 19th to 25th percentile year-over-year. Florence Junior/Senior High School presents a mixed picture: its 9th-grade PSAT9 Reading/Writing proficiency (75%) exceeds the state average (66%), and its dropout rate (1.2%) beats the state rate (1.6%), but only 8% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT Math compared to 32% statewide, and CMAS ELA proficiency collapsed from 51.4% to 22.9% in a single year. Fremont Elementary School faces the greatest hurdles, with the highest free/reduced lunch rate (59.64%), the highest chronic absenteeism (34.1%), and the largest class sizes (18.3 student-teacher ratio).

Math is a systemic weakness across the district: math proficiency is 17.2% versus 37.3% statewide, a 20-point gap, with Fremont Elementary School's 6th-grade math proficiency at just 5.6%. Chronic absenteeism plagues two of three schools — Fremont Elementary School at 34.1% and Florence Junior/Senior High School at 31.7% — while Penrose Elementary School's 28.1% rate matches the state average. Penrose proves that strong results are achievable despite a 51.96% free/reduced lunch rate, making its formula of smaller classes and better attendance a potential model for the district. Among the three schools, Penrose Elementary School is the strongest academic option, Florence Junior/Senior High School offers isolated bright spots in reading and dropout prevention but urgent math concerns, and Fremont Elementary School needs the most targeted support.