Holly School

Holly School is a small, rural PK-12 school in Holly, Colorado, serving 276 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade within the Holly School District No. Re-3, a wide geographic area with no neighboring schools within 20 miles. Because the district and school are essentially one and the same, all district-level metrics mirror the school's performance. The student body includes approximately 64% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of roughly 14 to 15 students per teacher.

Despite the challenges that often accompany high poverty rates, Holly School has several notable strengths. Its graduation rate in 2024-2025 was 90%, exceeding the Colorado state average of 85.6%. Even more striking is the school's chronic absenteeism rate of just 3.0% in 2024-2025, compared to nearly 28.4% statewide — a dramatic improvement from the prior year's 20.5%. The early elementary grades also show bright spots, with 4th grade ELA proficiency at 52.6% and 5th grade ELA at 58.8%, both exceeding state averages. Fifth grade science proficiency (41.2%) also outpaced the state's 36.1%.

However, academic proficiency in most core subjects lags behind Colorado averages. In 2025-2026, overall ELA proficiency was 32.5% versus 44.7% statewide, and math proficiency was 25.4% versus 37.3% statewide. College readiness measures show an even wider gap: only 32% of 11th graders met the SAT reading/writing benchmark in 2025-2026, compared to 60% statewide. The pattern suggests that while Holly School excels at keeping students engaged and graduating, sustaining those academic gains into middle and high school remains a challenge. For parents, Holly School is best understood as a small, high-poverty rural school with meaningful strengths in attendance and graduation, but with persistent academic achievement gaps, especially in math and college readiness.