Burlington High School

Burlington High School in Burlington, CO, is a small, rural public high school serving 216 students in grades 9–12, and it is the only high school in the Burlington Public School District No. Re-6j, which is currently ranked in the bottom 17% of Colorado districts. The school itself has a 1-star rating and ranks 263rd out of 338 Colorado high schools, a position it has held consistently since 2018–19. Nearly two-thirds of students (63.9%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 16.7.

The school's most glaring academic weakness is math: only 5% of Burlington 11th graders scored proficient on the SAT math exam in 2024–25, versus 32% statewide, and PSAT10 math proficiency was 9% compared to 36% statewide. Reading and writing scores are closer to state averages in lower grades but fall sharply by 11th grade. Chronic absenteeism is a crisis-level issue — 52.4% of students were chronically absent in 2024–25, nearly double the state rate of 28.4%. Despite these struggles, graduation rates have been near or above the state average (84.8% in 2024–25). The disconnect between high graduation rates and very low proficiency rates suggests students may be earning diplomas without meeting college-readiness benchmarks.

The contrast with Stratton Senior High School, located just 17.6 miles away, is dramatic. Stratton serves just 64 students with a far lower poverty rate (25% free/reduced lunch) and a much smaller student-teacher ratio (9.9). It ranks in the 90th percentile with a 5-star rating, while Burlington sits near the bottom. On PSAT9 math, 65% of Stratton students were proficient versus just 11% at Burlington. This shows that rural schools in the same region can perform at high levels, making Burlington's challenges real but not inevitable. The most immediate priorities should be improving attendance and investing in intensive math instruction.