Walsh High School

Walsh High School is a small, rural combined junior/senior high school in southeastern Colorado that serves just 72 students in grades 7 through 12 under the Walsh School District No. Re-1. Its biggest strength is attendance: the chronic absenteeism rate was just 15.1% in 2024-2025, roughly half the state average of 28.4%. Students are showing up consistently, which is a strong foundation for learning. The school also posted a perfect 100% graduation rate and 0% dropout rate in both 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, though its most recent school-reported graduation rate, from 2021-2022, fell to 80% with a 1.7% dropout rate.

Academically, Walsh has seen a sharp decline in math. After sitting at or slightly above the state average in 2022-2023 (34.6% proficient vs. 32.9% statewide), math proficiency fell to just 14.3% in the most recent test cycle, compared with a state average of 37.3%. ELA scores have also been volatile, with the latest reading of 28.6% well below the statewide 44.7%. Compared with nearby Springfield Junior/Senior High School, about 18.5 miles away, Walsh is competitive in ELA (28.6% vs. 26.8%) and far stronger in attendance — Springfield's chronic absenteeism is 35.7% — though Springfield now leads in math, 24.4% to 14.3%.

Walsh also compares favorably to Vilas Undivided High School, an even smaller school 9.1 miles away with 38 students. While Walsh's graduation rate was 80% in 2021-2022, Vilas reported just 33.3% in 2022-2023. Both schools have similar attendance and poverty levels, but Walsh's free/reduced lunch rate has climbed to 65.28%, up nearly 10 points in three years — a sign of rising economic hardship. One limitation: no school-level graduation or dropout data has been reported for Walsh since 2021-2022, so it's hard to confirm whether the historically strong outcomes have continued. If math instruction can be stabilized, Walsh's strong attendance and small-school environment provide the foundation to reverse the slide.