Alta Vista Charter School

Alta Vista Charter School is a small K–6 charter school in Lamar, Colorado, serving 133 students in southeastern Colorado's Lamar School District No. Re-2. Despite being part of a district ranked in the bottom quarter of Colorado districts, Alta Vista itself earns a 3-star rating and ranks in the 64th percentile of Colorado elementary schools. The school also serves a more moderate-income population (44.4% free/reduced lunch) than its district neighbors, where poverty rates reach 83.7% at Parkview Elementary School and 86.5% at Washington Elementary School.

Academically, Alta Vista outperforms its district by wide margins. In 2025–2026, 50% of students were proficient in English Language Arts and 41.9% in math, compared with just 28.1% and 19.4% across the Lamar district—and the school also edges out state averages. Third graders were especially strong, with 70% proficient in both reading and math. The school's real superpower, though, is attendance: only 4.4% of students are chronically absent, compared with 28.2% for the district and 42.9% at Washington Elementary. This exceptionally low absenteeism likely plays a major role in the school's consistent success.

Alta Vista's closest peers are McClave Elementary School and Wiley Elementary School, which serve similar rural communities. McClave ranks slightly higher overall, with notably stronger math and science scores, while Wiley matches Alta Vista's 64th-percentile ranking. That said, Alta Vista's advantage over state averages has narrowed in recent years, and 4th grade scores show a sharp drop from 3rd grade—though with only 133 students, single-grade results can swing considerably from year to year. Still, for families in southeastern Colorado, Alta Vista remains one of the stronger elementary options in the region.