5280 High School

5280 High School is a very small public high school in Denver, CO, serving 109 students in grades 9–12 within School District No. 1, a district ranking in the 38th percentile of Colorado districts. The school ranks 280th of 328 Colorado high schools (15th percentile, 1 star) — an improvement from last year's 332nd-place finish but still well below district and state averages. Notably, only 37.6% of students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch, the lowest rate among nearby comparison schools, making the low academic and graduation outcomes particularly striking.

The most urgent concern is student engagement. The 2024-25 graduation rate was just 47.6%, compared to 81.9% for the district and 85.6% statewide, while the dropout rate of 9.5% is roughly three times the district average and six times the state average. Chronic absenteeism is even more alarming: 81.3% of students missed significant time, up from 71.7% the prior year and more than double the district rate. Nearby schools tell a very different story — DSST: Cedar High School graduates 94.9% of students with just 0.7% dropout and 36.3% chronic absenteeism, and South High School posts a 92.7% graduation rate with 1.7% dropout. Only Florence Crittenton High School and Excel Academy have lower graduation rates or higher absenteeism nearby.

Academically, the picture is mixed. SAT reading/writing proficiency improved from 21% to 40% over two years but still trails the state's 60% and the district's 52%. Science proficiency sits at just 13.6%, and PSAT math results hovered between 12% and 17% proficient — far below state averages. The school has the lowest student-teacher ratio in the area at 8.5:1, suggesting small classes and individual attention, but with 8 in 10 students chronically absent, that support can't translate into results. KIPP Denver Collegiate High School, ranked nearly identically to 5280 on test-based rankings, graduates 88% of students — a reminder that rankings based on proficiency alone can obscure enormous differences in completion. The bottom line: 5280's biggest challenge isn't poverty or class size — it's getting students to show up.