Summary
Centennial Middle School is a public school in Boulder, CO serving 598 students in grades 6–8 within the Boulder Valley School District, a district ranked 5th in the state. The school currently ranks 85th out of 469 Colorado middle schools, placing it in the 82nd percentile with a 4-star rating.
Centennial has shown impressive momentum in recent years, climbing from 147th in 2022–2023 to its current 85th place ranking. ELA proficiency rose from 46.3% to 60.6%, math from 42.2% to 50.8%, and science jumped from 31.3% to 62.2%. Science is the school's standout subject — the only tested area where Centennial beats the district average — and 8th graders outperform 6th and 7th graders across all subjects, an unusual pattern suggesting students gain momentum as they progress. Still, challenges remain. Chronic absenteeism is 24.3%, meaning nearly one in four students is missing significant school time, well above the district rate of 17.5%. With a student-teacher ratio of 19.3, class sizes run larger than at many nearby schools. The school also has notable achievement gaps — while many students perform at high levels, low-income students and other historically underserved groups have not yet reached the same outcomes, though they have shown recent improvement.
Academically, Centennial is solidly above state averages but trails its own district in ELA and math. It ranks ahead of nearby Angevine, Erie, Casey, and Sunset, but behind high-performing peers like Summit Middle Charter, Southern Hills, Altona, Manhattan, Louisville, and Nevin Platt. A comparison to Manhattan Middle is particularly telling: the two schools serve similar populations and have similar absenteeism rates, yet Manhattan posts stronger scores in every subject — suggesting demographics alone don't explain the gap. For families, Centennial offers a solid, improving school with genuine strengths in science and a clear upward trajectory. The key opportunities for growth are improving attendance and ensuring every student group reaches its full potential.
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