GOAL Academy

GOAL Academy is a public charter virtual high school located in Pueblo, Colorado, serving grades 9-12 with a total enrollment of 6,142 students. While part of the El Paso County Colorado School District 49, which is ranked 46 out of 115 districts in the state, GOAL Academy has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-20% of Colorado high schools over the past several years, placing it among the lowest-performing high schools in the state.

GOAL Academy's performance is particularly concerning for specific student subgroups, ranking in the bottom 10-20% for female, male, Hispanic, White, multi-racial, and low socioeconomic status students, and even worse, in the bottom 5-10% for African American and disabled students. The school also struggles with very low four-year graduation rates, ranging from 41.6% to 84.2%, and high dropout rates, ranging from 1.9% to 18.1%. Academically, GOAL Academy students perform significantly below state and district averages on standardized tests, with the percentage of students proficient or better often less than half the state and district averages, particularly in mathematics. Additionally, the school has high rates of chronic absenteeism, ranging from 17.9% to 27.7%, well above the state and district averages.

In comparison, nearby schools in Pueblo, such as Pueblo West High School, Swallows Charter Academy High School, and Pueblo County High School, generally perform much better than GOAL Academy on key metrics, suggesting that the virtual school model may be contributing to the challenges faced by GOAL Academy in providing a quality education to its diverse student population.