Deer Trail Elementary School

Deer Trail Elementary School is a small, rural PK–5 school in Deer Trail, Colorado, serving 174 students as part of the Deer Trail School District No. 26J. The school has seen a sharp decline in its state ranking over the past few years, falling from the 49th percentile in 2022–2023 to the 10th percentile in 2024–2025, when it earned zero stars from the state. This places the school among the lowest-performing elementary schools in Colorado.

Academically, Deer Trail significantly trails state averages and nearby rural schools. In 2025–2026, just 12.5% of students were proficient in English Language Arts, compared to 44.7% statewide, and only 11.1% were proficient in math, versus 37.3% statewide. By contrast, Byers Elementary School, just 11.6 miles away, posted 49.2% ELA and 40.9% math proficiency, while Strasburg Elementary School achieved 35.6% ELA and 35.3% math proficiency. Deer Trail also underperforms Agate Elementary School across most measures. Even the online options in the Byers School District No. 32J—Colorado Virtual Academy and Astravo Online Academy Elementary School—outpace Deer Trail in most subjects.

One of the most striking issues is chronic absenteeism: 34% of Deer Trail students were chronically absent in 2024–2025, far above the 28.4% state average and more than double the rates at Byers Elementary (14.8%) and Agate Elementary (10%). The school also serves a higher share of economically disadvantaged students, with 50.6% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. While Deer Trail's student–teacher ratio of 15.1 is reasonable, the combination of high absenteeism, poverty, and weak test scores has pushed the school to the bottom of the state's rankings. The good news is that the school performed near the state median as recently as 2022–2023, suggesting improvement is possible with the right supports.