Granada Undivided High School

Granada Undivided High School is a small, combined junior/senior high school serving 92 students in grades 7 through 12 in the rural farming community of Granada, Colorado, and is part of Granada School District No. Re-1. The school offers a remarkably low student-teacher ratio of 9.1:1 — nearly half that of nearby Lamar High School, which sits about 18 miles away and serves 393 students with a 15.5:1 ratio. Like many rural southeastern Colorado schools, Granada serves a predominantly low-income population, with 63% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Academically, Granada presents a mixed picture. The school has declined significantly in statewide rankings, falling from a 4-star, 79th-percentile rating in 2013-2014 to a 1-star, 27th-percentile rating by 2022-2023. Math achievement is a persistent weakness, with just 8.8% of students proficient in 2024-2025 and 20% in 2025-2026, far below state averages. English language arts has been more encouraging, with proficiency rates exceeding the state average in several recent years, including 56.7% in 2022-2023. Because of the small student body, test scores and graduation rates swing widely from year to year — graduation rates have ranged from 66.7% to 100% in recent years.

On a positive note, Granada's dropout rate is low at 1.0%, below the state average, but chronic absenteeism is a serious concern, affecting 28% of students in 2024-2025 (down from 38.9% the year before). This pattern — high absenteeism alongside low dropout rates — suggests students remain enrolled but may be disengaging from school. Compared with Lamar High School, Granada offers more individualized attention but struggles more with graduation-rate consistency. The two most promising areas for improvement are reducing chronic absenteeism and strengthening math instruction, both of which would likely help reverse the school's declining ranking.