Del Norte Elementary School

Del Norte Elementary School serves 187 students in grades K-6 in the town of Del Norte, Colorado, within the Upper Rio Grande School District C-7. The district as a whole earns a 3-star rating and ranks in the 62nd percentile of Colorado districts, but Del Norte Elementary has consistently landed in the bottom quarter of the state's elementary schools, never rising above the 29th percentile in recent years and earning the state's lowest rating of 1 star in every reported year. Because the school includes 6th grade while most nearby schools end at 5th, its results aren't always directly comparable to its neighbors.

Academically, Del Norte trails state averages in every subject. In the most recent testing, 26% of students were proficient in English Language Arts and 19% in math, compared with state averages of 44.7% and 37.3%. These results place Del Norte in line with nearby Haskin Elementary School, Sargent Elementary School, and Bill Metz Elementary School — all of which rank in the bottom third of Colorado schools. At the same time, the school shows real strengths: chronic absenteeism is just 16.4%, well below the state average of 28.4%, and the student-teacher ratio of 8.9 is the lowest among nearby schools. About 56.7% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a moderate poverty rate compared with neighboring schools like Haskin (90.7%) and Bill Metz (75.9%).

The most urgent concern for parents is early literacy: just 13% of Del Norte's 3rd graders read proficiently, far below Sargent Elementary School's 37%. There is one encouraging bright spot — 5th-grade math proficiency reached 36%, nearly matching the state average of 39.3% and far exceeding nearby schools — but math drops to 17% by 6th grade, suggesting a strong individual cohort rather than a schoolwide turnaround. For families, Del Norte offers small classes, strong attendance, and a stable community, yet those advantages haven't translated into higher test scores. The 5th-grade math result shows the school can produce near-state-average outcomes, but lasting improvement will likely depend on strengthening early reading and sustaining math gains beyond 5th grade.