Everitt Middle School

Everitt Middle School serves 456 students in grades 6–8 in Wheat Ridge, CO, as part of Jefferson County School District R-1, with about 57% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. After spending much of the past decade near the bottom of statewide rankings, Everitt has climbed to the 52nd percentile (225th out of 469 Colorado middle schools) and earned 3 stars for the 2025-26 school year. Test scores have risen steadily over three years: ELA proficiency jumped from 30.7% to 41.3%, math from 21.4% to 27.9%, and 8th-grade science from 21.6% to 35.7% — now essentially at the state average for science.

Academically, Everitt sits in a middle tier among nearby schools. Its math proficiency (27.9%) trails both the district (44.6%) and state (37.3%) averages, and schools like Drake Junior High School (47.5%) and Bell Middle School (53.8%) are far ahead. However, Everitt substantially outperforms higher-poverty neighbors like North Arvada Middle School (18.7%), Lake Middle School (14.5%), and Rocky Mountain Prep Sunnyside (7.5%). Interestingly, Creighton Middle School — just 3.7 miles away with nearly identical demographics and absenteeism — posts very similar scores (42.9% ELA, 30.0% math), suggesting shared community challenges shape outcomes more than individual school practices.

The defining challenge is chronic absenteeism: 45.6% of Everitt students are chronically absent, far above the district rate of 26.6% and nearly double that of high-performing nearby schools like Drake (23.1%). With a favorable 15.5:1 student-teacher ratio — lower than most neighboring schools — Everitt has the staffing to support students, but its overall rank masks meaningful differences in how well it serves different student groups, with low-income students and other subgroups showing lower outcomes than their peers. Reducing absenteeism and closing those internal gaps will be key to sustaining the school's promising upward trajectory.