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Needham Elementary School

Q: Is Needham Elementary School a good school?

Needham Elementary School ranks 271 st of 943 Colorado elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.

Public Grades PK, KG-5

271^st

SchoolDigger Rank ?

of 943 Colorado Elementary Schools

Better than 71% of Colorado elementary schools

Summary

Needham Elementary School is a PK–5 school in Durango, CO, serving 367 students as part of the Durango School District No. 9-R, and it's a school on the rise — after years of mid-pack results, Needham jumped to a 4-star rating and the 71st percentile statewide in 2025–26, ranking 271st of 943 Colorado elementary schools. Its CMAS scores now beat district and state averages in all three tested subjects: 57.9% proficiency in ELA (vs. 50.9% district and 44.7% state), 49.0% in math (vs. 41.2% district and 37.3% state), and 52.7% in 5th-grade science (vs. 47.0% district and 36.1% state). The single-year gains were dramatic, especially in math (+15.5 points) and science (+19.4 points).

Compared with nearby schools, Needham is a strong, though not dominant, performer. It outperforms most local elementary schools in ELA and math, including Animas Valley Elementary School, Florida Mesa Elementary School, The Juniper School, and Ignacio Elementary School. It trails only Park Elementary School and Riverview Elementary School in most subjects, and its 5th-grade science results actually top Riverview's. One internal inconsistency stands out: 4th-grade scores dip sharply in both ELA (40%) and math (32%), well below the school's strong 3rd- and 5th-grade results — a pattern that may reflect either a specific cohort or a grade-level instructional challenge.

The most important equity concern is the achievement gap for economically disadvantaged students. While the school overall ranks in the top third of Colorado elementary schools, its low-income students have ranked in the bottom quintile statewide for three consecutive years — a striking pattern given that 42.2% of Needham students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Chronic absenteeism (29.2%) is another area to watch: it's near district and state averages but well above top-performing neighbors like Riverview (20.3%) and Park (23.4%). If Needham can close the low-income gap and reduce absenteeism, its recent trajectory suggests it could soon rank alongside the strongest elementary schools in the Durango area.

367

Students ?

11.5

Student/teacher ratio ?

$19,117

Per pupil spending ?

42.2%

Free/discounted lunch ?

2425 West Third Avenue
Durango, CO 81301-4515

(970) 247-4791

District: Durango School District No. 9-R

Students who attend Needham Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:	Miller Middle School
High:	Durango High School

Racial breakdown:

White:

65.9%

Hispanic:

19.9%

Two or more races:

7.9%

See top rated Colorado elementary schools

Compare Needham Elementary School to nearby elementary schools!

At a glance

▲ Ranking trend: Improving — 59th percentile in 2016 → 71st in 2026

Strengths

✓Test scores above the Colorado average (53% vs 41% meeting standards)

✓Ranking is trending up — up 12 percentile points since 2016

✓Above the Colorado median (71st percentile)

Worth a look

!Some student groups rank well below the school's overall statewide standing

Students meeting standards (2025-2026) ?

This school53%

District avg46%

Colorado avg41%

271^st of 943

Colorado public elementary schools ?

Top 29%▲ up 12 pts since 2016

From top 41% (2016) to top 29% (2026)

See the entire ranking list of Colorado Elementary Schools →

★★★★★

SchoolDigger rating ?

3^rd of 6Elementary Schools in the Durango School District No. 9-R

28^th of 115Durango School District No. 9-R among Colorado districts

Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)

Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Colorado percentile	Rating
2026	69.3	271 of 943	71.3%	★★★★☆
2025	48.0	463 of 950	51.3%	★★★☆☆
2024	55.1	402 of 943	57.4%	★★★☆☆
2023	50.6	425 of 933	54.4%	★★★☆☆
2022	56.8	373 of 921	59.5%	★★★☆☆
2021	42.2	437 of 710	38.5%	★★☆☆☆
2019	35.3	594 of 965	38.4%	★★☆☆☆
2018	39.9	523 of 917	43.0%	★★☆☆☆
2017	26.3	664 of 929	28.5%	★☆☆☆☆
2016	55.1	371 of 914	59.4%	★★★☆☆
2015	50.7	422 of 938	55.0%	★★★☆☆
2014	64.6	337 of 962	65.0%	★★★☆☆
2013	69.3	291 of 954	69.5%	★★★☆☆
2012	64.6	351 of 935	62.5%	★★★☆☆
2011	61.6	390 of 935	58.3%	★★★☆☆
2010	56.7	445 of 925	51.9%	★★★☆☆
2009	64.0	336 of 872	61.5%	★★★☆☆
2008	65.7	306 of 849	64.0%	★★★☆☆
2007	68.2	288 of 852	66.2%	★★★☆☆
2006	80.0	132 of 829	84.1%	★★★★☆
2005	71.1	250 of 823	69.6%	★★★☆☆
2004	64.0	316 of 808	60.9%	★★★☆☆

Female

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Colorado percentile	Rating
2026	65.7	217 of 692	68.6%	★★★☆☆
2025	48.1	331 of 694	52.3%	★★★☆☆
2024	43.5	382 of 684	44.2%	★★☆☆☆
2023	39.2	387 of 642	39.7%	★★☆☆☆
2022	34.9	385 of 595	35.3%	★★☆☆☆
2021	32.3	283 of 351	19.4%	★☆☆☆☆
2019	42.2	406 of 758	46.4%	★★☆☆☆
2018	61.5	230 of 690	66.7%	★★★☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Colorado percentile	Rating
2025	26.2	272 of 337	19.3%	★☆☆☆☆
2024	29.1	272 of 365	25.5%	★☆☆☆☆
2023	25.3	226 of 265	14.7%	★☆☆☆☆

Male

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Colorado percentile	Rating
2026	59.4	267 of 694	61.5%	★★★☆☆
2025	34.5	433 of 700	38.1%	★★☆☆☆
2024	48.0	343 of 683	49.8%	★★★☆☆
2023	55.7	272 of 649	58.1%	★★★☆☆
2022	60.1	215 of 594	63.8%	★★★☆☆
2021	36.1	275 of 352	21.9%	★☆☆☆☆
2019	21.6	596 of 764	22.0%	★☆☆☆☆
2018	32.1	457 of 693	34.1%	★★☆☆☆

White

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Colorado percentile	Rating
2026	64.9	178 of 546	67.4%	★★★☆☆
2025	59.4	214 of 551	61.2%	★★★☆☆
2024	51.0	267 of 539	50.5%	★★★☆☆
2023	35.7	353 of 525	32.8%	★★☆☆☆
2019	26.8	451 of 596	24.3%	★☆☆☆☆

How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)

Female (2026)69th percentile-3 vs school

White (2026)67th percentile-4 vs school

Male (2026)62nd percentile-10 vs school

Low Socio Economic Status (2025)19th percentile-32 vs school

By subject vs Colorado (2025-2026) ?

English Language Arts58%+13 vs state

Science53%+17 vs state

Math49%+12 vs state

3.0

1 rating · 1 written review

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What people are saying

by a parent
Friday, September 15, 2017

Needham is a promising school and should be performing much better. Many of the teachers have been there since the days when it was ranked one of the best schools in the district so that should say that this is not entirely the fault of staff. Most families, I believe, attribute the down turn to an ineffective principal that the school was stuck with for 5 years. A principal that had already been dismissed from another Colorado school. In fact, if you look at the graph chart on performance, the moment that principal came on board, the school started to decline and continued to decline. Instead of getting rid of the principal, he was promoted to a job with the school district. Now we have a new principal who really has her work cut out for her. Hopefully she can turn things around! Time will tell but it is really a shame that the district did not take action sooner and than rewarded a poorly performing principal with a higher paying job. Needham is an IB school and IB is supposed to be academically more rigorous than standard curriculum schools. I don't know if the prinicpal supported the IB program or not but if the school is going to be IB, it needs to be supported 100 percent from the district, to the prinicpal, to the staff and even the families if it is going to be effective. The IB coordinator position was eliminated by the district this year as far as I know so does not look like the district really cares about its success. Most families I have spoken with really like IB because it brings much more than reading, writing and math. The kids are the ones that are paying the price now for all this contention between the district superintendent and staff and families at Needham. Close Quote

Schools Near Needham Elementary School

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				CMAS English Language Arts (2026)				CMAS Math (2026)				CMAS Science (2026)	Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	CMAS English Language Arts 3rd Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 4th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 5th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts All Grades	CMAS Math 3rd Grade	CMAS Math 4th Grade	CMAS Math 5th Grade	CMAS Math All Grades	CMAS Science 5th Grade	Total
Needham Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2425 West Third Avenue	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-4791	367	32	11.5	42.2%	242 (65.9%)	3 (0.8%)	73 (19.9%)	2 (0.5%)	18 (4.9%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (7.9%)	69.3	271^st of 943 public elementary schools	71.3%		48	463^rd of 950 public elementary schools	51.3%	192	63.8	40.0	69.1	57.9	60.4	32.0	54.5	49.0	52.7	$19,117
Riverview Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2900 Mesa Avenue	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 247-3862	374	31	12.0	30.5%	279 (74.6%)	1 (0.3%)	48 (12.8%)	2 (0.5%)	16 (4.3%)	1 (0.3%)	27 (7.2%)	72.9	231^st of 943 public elementary schools	75.5%		79.3	185^th of 950 public elementary schools	80.5%	46	63.2	61.5	63.2	62.7	69.1	43.1	38.9	49.4	50.7	$19,623
Park Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	510 E. 6th Ave.	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-3718	452	36	12.7	38.9%	256 (56.6%)	1 (0.2%)	110 (24.3%)	7 (1.5%)	38 (8.4%)	1 (0.2%)	37 (8.2%)	82.7	157^th of 943 public elementary schools	83.4%		79.7	176^th of 950 public elementary schools	81.5%	19	62.3	58.2	64.4	61.9	61.3	60.0	65.8	62.6	55.4	$19,787
The Juniper School	Public, Charter	K-8	225 Sawyer Dr	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	Yes	No	No	No	(970) 764-4185	171	12	14.4	38.6%	136 (79.5%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (16.4%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.9%)	62.3	331^st of 943 public elementary schools	64.9%		60.1	356^th of 950 public elementary schools	62.5%	25	47.8	56.3	50.0	45.3	43.5	62.5	40.9	38.3	45.5	$13,921
Florida Mesa Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	216 Highway 172	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-4250	293	28	10.3	52.6%	164 (56.0%)	0 (0.0%)	81 (27.6%)	3 (1.0%)	27 (9.2%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (6.1%)	34.1	581^st of 943 public elementary schools	38.4%		35.5	566^th of 950 public elementary schools	40.4%	15	55.0	26.8	47.1	42.6	42.5	23.3	17.6	28.2	11.8	$21,477
Animas Valley Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	373 Hermosa Meadows Road	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-0124	185	18	10.1	37.8%	109 (58.9%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (31.4%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.8%)	41.7	502^nd of 943 public elementary schools	46.8%		47.5	467^th of 950 public elementary schools	50.8%	35	36.4	40.0	41.2	39.0	36.4	30.0	38.9	35.0	43.8	$23,709
Sunnyside Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	75 Cr 218	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 259-5249	107	11	9.8	50.5%	67 (62.6%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (29.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.9%)	1 (0.9%)	5 (4.7%)								(n/a)				46.9				25.0		$25,867
Bayfield Intermediate School	Public	3-5	720 E Oak	Bayfield	81122	La Plata County	Bayfield School District No. 10Jt-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 884-9571	274	23	11.7	41.2%	195 (71.2%)	1 (0.4%)	52 (19.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.4%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.1%)	38.1	539^th of 943 public elementary schools	42.8%		47.4	468^th of 950 public elementary schools	50.7%	71	27.0	45.9	51.9	41.9	25.7	29.1	39.2	31.4	30.4	$00
Bayfield Primary School	Public	PK, KG-2	511 East Mustang Lane	Bayfield	81122	La Plata County	Bayfield School District No. 10Jt-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 884-0881	222	20	11.1	42.8%	154 (69.4%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (22.1%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.2%)	1 (0.5%)	11 (5.0%)								(n/a)										$00
Fort Lewis Mesa Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	11274 Highway 140	Hesperus	81326	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 588-3331	116	11	10.2	50.9%	84 (72.4%)	1 (0.9%)	25 (21.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.7%)								(n/a)				45.0				45.0		$25,407

Frequently Asked Questions about Needham Elementary School

What district is Needham Elementary School in?

Durango School District No. 9-R

What is the racial makeup of Needham Elementary School?

Students at Needham Elementary School are 66% White, 20% Hispanic, 8% Two or more races, 5% American Indian.

How many students attend Needham Elementary School?

In the 2024-25 school year, 367 students attended Needham Elementary School.

Is Needham Elementary School a good school?

Needham Elementary School ranks 271^st of 943 Colorado elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.

What schools do graduates of Needham Elementary School attend?

Students who attend Needham Elementary School usually go on to attend:

Middle : Miller Middle School
High : Durango High School

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Latest Colorado data All new data »

2025–26 CMAS, PSAT10, PSAT9 & SAT test scoresNewAug 19, 2026

2024–25 school spending dataJun 13, 2026

2024–25 dropout rates & graduation ratesJan 13, 2026

2024–25 attendance dataAug 27, 2025

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Colorado Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.