Rifle Middle School

Rifle Middle School is a public school in Rifle, Colorado, serving 552 students in grades 6–8 as part of Garfield School District No. Re-2. The school has been improving in recent years, but it still ranks below the state average on most academic measures. In the latest state ranking cycle, Rifle Middle School placed in the 27th percentile of Colorado middle schools, up from the 17th percentile just a few years ago. Proficiency rates remain modest: about 28.5% of students are proficient in English language arts and 19.8% in math, compared to state averages of 44.7% and 37.3%, respectively. The school also faces significant economic need, with 56.88% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–2025, a sharp jump from 39.25% the year before. Even with this shift, test scores have held steady or slightly improved, which is a positive sign for families.

Compared to nearby schools, Rifle sits in the middle. Riverside School, about 14 miles away in the same district, is the strongest of the three: it ranks in the 53rd percentile, with ELA proficiency of 43.1% and a chronic absenteeism rate of just 7.3%. At the other end, Grand Valley Middle School in Grand Valley School District No. 16 ranks near the bottom at the 2nd percentile, with only 12.5% ELA proficiency. Rifle beats Grand Valley by a wide margin in both ELA and science, but trails Riverside by roughly 10 to 15 percentage points across subjects. The economic pattern matches this: Riverside has the lowest poverty rate, Grand Valley the highest, and Rifle is in between.

Attendance is a relative strength for Rifle. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 16.3% is better than the district rate of 18.1% and far below the state average of 28.4%. Dropout rates, where reported, have also stayed low, and the school’s state ranking has improved three years in a row. One area of concern is 8th grade, where proficiency drops noticeably compared to 6th and 7th grades—especially in ELA, where only 18.9% of 8th graders are proficient. Science scores have also been volatile, swinging from 23.4% proficient in 2024–2025 down to 15.5% the following year. Still, families may find encouragement in the school’s steady upward trend and its relatively stable attendance and retention record.