Craig Middle School

Craig Middle School in Craig, Colorado, serves 419 students in grades 6–8 as part of Moffat County School District RE: No. 1. Over half of the student body (52.3%) qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–2025, and the school maintains a student-teacher ratio of 13.8 to 1. The school has shown clear improvement over the past decade, climbing from the 9th percentile statewide in 2015–2016 to the 31st percentile with a 2-star rating in 2025–2026, though it still trails state averages in every core subject.

When compared with nearby Hayden Middle School, roughly 15 miles away, Craig posted notably higher proficiency rates in 2025–2026 despite facing greater challenges. Craig's English language arts proficiency was 27.1% versus Hayden's 20.0%, and Craig's math proficiency of 21.5% was more than double Hayden's 9.6%. State averages were 44.7% for ELA and 37.3% for math. Hayden did outperform Craig in 8th-grade science (42.3% vs. 25.8%), exceeding the state average of 35.4%. What makes Craig's results more striking is the contrast in circumstances: Hayden serves a much wealthier student body, with just 25.8% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch compared with Craig's 52.3%.

The school's biggest challenge is chronic absenteeism, which affects 33.3% of students — nearly triple Hayden's 12.4% and above the state average of 28.4%. There is also a wide gender gap: female students ranked in the 37th percentile statewide in 2025–2026, while male students ranked in the 11th. In math, 6th graders are especially far behind, with only 12.9% proficient versus a 32.7% state average. On the positive side, the dropout rate is very low at 0.7%, and math proficiency has nearly doubled in three years, from 10.9% in 2022–2023 to 21.5% in 2025–2026. Craig Middle School is in the middle of a long-term turnaround — improving steadily and outperforming its nearby peer in reading and math despite tougher conditions, but with meaningful work still ahead to close the gap with state averages.