Best Middle Schools in Colorado for African American Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in Colorado!

Every year, the Colorado Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, African American students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Colorado test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CMAS test scores by the Colorado Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, August 21, 2025.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (African American vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 29)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Statewide Rank Percentile (African American)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (African American)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Challenge School	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-8	9659 East Mississippi Avenue	Denver	80247	Arapahoe County	Cherry Creek School District No. 5	No	Yes	No	No	(720) 747-2100	560	35	16.1	17.3%	195 (34.8%)	78 (13.9%)	39 (7.0%)	178 (31.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	68 (12.1%)	$16,722							96.6%	99.8%	3.24%			080291000763
2	Aurora Quest K-8	Public	K-8	472 South Wheeling St	Aurora	80012	Arapahoe County	Aurora Joint District No. 28	No	No	No	No	(303) 343-3664	575	30	19.1	42.8%	209 (36.3%)	121 (21.0%)	121 (21.0%)	57 (9.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	66 (11.5%)	$18,107							93.1%	98.7%	5.62%			080234001674
3	DSST: Cedar Middle School	Public, Charter	6-8	150 S Pearl Street	Denver	80209	Denver County	School District No. 1	Yes	No	No	No	(303) 524-6350	485	36	13.5	50.5%	187 (38.6%)	90 (18.6%)	148 (30.5%)	21 (4.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.4%)	$16,095							89.7%	89.8%	0.11%			080336006572
4	Aurora Academy Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	10251 East 1st Ave	Aurora	80010	Arapahoe County	Aurora Joint District No. 28	Yes	No	No	No	(303) 367-5983	536	40	13.4	73.9%	49 (9.1%)	272 (50.7%)	173 (32.3%)	10 (1.9%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (5.2%)	$13,726							86.2%	60.8%	25.44%			080234001759
5	Murphy Creek K-8 School	Public	PK, KG-8	1400 S Old Tom Morris Road	Aurora	80018	Arapahoe County	Aurora Joint District No. 28	No	No	No	No	(303) 366-0579	855	51	16.9	59.9%	235 (27.5%)	194 (22.7%)	275 (32.2%)	59 (6.9%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	89 (10.4%)	$17,379							82.8%	84.4%	1.68%			080234001881
6	Harmony Ridge P-8	Public	PK, KG-8	52 North Robertsdale Street	Aurora	80018	Arapahoe County	Aurora Joint District No. 28	No	No	No	No	(303) 326-1013	894	45	19.8	61.7%	147 (16.4%)	143 (16.0%)	449 (50.2%)	52 (5.8%)	5 (0.6%)	13 (1.5%)	85 (9.5%)	$18,065							79.3%	41.8%	37.52%			080234006803
7	Sky Vista Middle School	Public	6-8	4500 S Himalaya Street	Aurora	80015	Arapahoe County	Cherry Creek School District No. 5	No	No	No	No	(720) 886-4711	969	54	17.8	33.5%	433 (44.7%)	139 (14.3%)	206 (21.3%)	87 (9.0%)	5 (0.5%)	4 (0.4%)	95 (9.8%)	$15,863							75.9%	62.3%	13.60%			080291001878
8	Infinity Middle School	Public	6-8	25100 E Belleview Avenue	Aurora	80016	Arapahoe County	Cherry Creek School District No. 5	No	No	No	No	(720) 886-6000	1,020	60	16.8	22.9%	516 (50.6%)	99 (9.7%)	183 (17.9%)	94 (9.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	127 (12.5%)	$14,602							72.4%	71.6%	0.77%			080291006728
9	Thunder Ridge Middle School	Public	6-8	5250 South Picadilly Street	Aurora	80015	Arapahoe County	Cherry Creek School District No. 5	No	No	No	No	(720) 886-1500	1,106	71	15.6	37.0%	531 (48.0%)	109 (9.9%)	271 (24.5%)	74 (6.7%)	2 (0.2%)	5 (0.5%)	113 (10.2%)	$15,466							69.0%	58.0%	10.97%			080291000034
10	DSST: Conservatory Green Middle School	Public, Charter	6-8	8499 East Stoll Place	Denver	80238	Denver County	School District No. 1	Yes	No	No	Yes	(303) 802-4120	468	33	14.3	68.8%	51 (10.9%)	86 (18.4%)	289 (61.8%)	14 (3.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	25 (5.3%)	$17,279							65.5%	35.2%	30.34%			080336006618

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Colorado

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CO student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Disabled Students Gifted and Talented Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CMAS English Language Arts, CMAS Math, CMAS Science test scores released by the Colorado Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on August 21, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Colorado Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Colorado Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Colorado Department of Education.