Kenneth P Morris Elementary School

Kenneth P Morris Elementary School is a K-4 elementary school in Yuma, Colorado, serving 310 students in the Yuma 1 School District. The school holds a 2-star state rating, ranking in the 35th percentile of Colorado elementary schools — a position that has remained stable over the past decade. The district itself ranks in the 29th percentile statewide. About two-thirds of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student-teacher ratio stands at roughly 12 to 1 — higher than nearby rural schools like Otis Elementary and Lone Star Elementary, which have ratios closer to 9 to 1.

The most notable academic pattern at Kenneth P Morris is the split between math and reading. Math is a clear strength: 32.8% of students were proficient in the most recent testing year, well above the district's 26.8% and close to the state's 37.3%. In 2022-2023, the school even outperformed the state in math. This stands out when compared to Otis Elementary, where only 18.2% of students were proficient in math despite a lower poverty rate and smaller classes. English Language Arts is the bigger challenge, with proficiency rates trailing the state by 12 to 20 points in recent years. Otis has outscored Kenneth P Morris in reading in one recent year, though results have been inconsistent between the two schools.

Attendance is a standout bright spot. Despite high poverty levels, chronic absenteeism is just 18.1% — well below both the district's 24.8% and the state's 28.4%. Within the school, female students consistently outperform male students, with boys ranking in the lowest quintile statewide in recent years. On a more encouraging note, low-income students have shown meaningful improvement, climbing from the 19th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 37th percentile in 2025-2026. For parents, the takeaway is that Kenneth P Morris does well getting kids to school and teaching math. The clearest path to improvement is applying that same success to reading.