Summary:
Custer County School District Consolidate 1 contains just one middle school, Custer Middle School, located in Westcliffe, Colorado, serving grades 6 through 8 with a very small enrollment of 69 students. As the district's only middle-level option, Custer Middle School essentially defines all district-level data for middle school in this rural area.
Academic performance is significantly below state averages in nearly every subject. For the 2025-2026 school year, only 20.4% of students were proficient in English Language Arts, compared to 44.7% statewide, while Math proficiency was just 16.3% versus 37.3% statewide. Science results for 8th graders were also low at 21.1% proficiency, a sharp drop from 36.4% the prior year. Ranking data reflects these challenges: Custer Middle School ranked 355th out of 469 Colorado middle schools with a 1-star rating, a decline from its 2-star rating in 2023-2024. Performance does vary by grade and subject, with 6th-grade Math proficiency reaching 25.0%, notably higher than the school's all-grade average, while 8th-grade ELA lagged at just 15.8%.
Despite the academic hurdles, the school shows several strengths. Chronic absenteeism is 16.9%, well below the state average of 28.4%, and the dropout rate is 0.0%. A favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.2 to 1 supports the potential for more individualized instruction. Over half of students (53.62%) qualify for free or reduced lunch, providing important context for interpreting these results. Given the tiny student body, year-to-year test swings should be viewed with caution, as a handful of students can shift percentages dramatically. The district itself ranks in the 22nd percentile of Colorado districts, making targeted improvement in ELA and Science a clear priority for this small, closely connected school community.
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