Weldon Valley Elementary School

Weldon Valley Elementary School is a very small, rural PK-6 school in Weldona, CO, serving just 119 students and operating as part of the School District No. Re-20 Weldon Valley, a district rated 27th out of 115 in Colorado (77th percentile, 4 stars). Surrounded by much larger elementary schools in Fort Morgan, Wiggins, and Brush, Weldon Valley stands out for its smaller size, lower poverty rate, and dramatically lower chronic absenteeism than any of its neighbors.

Attendance is a hidden strength: only 12.7% of students are chronically absent, compared with the state average of 28.4% and rates ranging from 15.2% at Columbine Elementary School to 31.3% at Sherman Early Childhood Center. The school also serves a more economically advantaged population, with a free/reduced lunch rate of 30.25% versus a range of 45.34% to 74.9% at nearby schools, and its student-teacher ratio of 12.5 means class sizes are among the smallest in the area. Academically, Weldon Valley leads its region, posting 38.9% proficiency in ELA and 29.6% in math, ahead of Thomson Primary School, Pioneer Elementary School, and Green Acres Elementary School, though both figures trail state averages (44.7% ELA, 37.3% math). The nearby Brush and Fort Morgan districts, by contrast, rank in the bottom 10th and 5th percentiles of Colorado districts, respectively.

The school's biggest academic challenge is math, particularly at the 6th grade level, where proficiency was 23.5% versus the state average of 32.7%. Science performance has also swung sharply, from 43.8% proficient in 2022-2023 to 23.5% in 2024-2025. By contrast, ELA is a genuine strength, with 6th grade reading proficiency (47.1%) exceeding the state average of 41.6%. The school's own state ranking, however, is more modest — 632nd out of 950 elementary schools (33rd percentile, 2 stars) — than its district's 4-star rating might suggest, and small enrollment means year-to-year scores can swing noticeably. Overall, Weldon Valley is a strong performer for its area, with excellent attendance and competitive reading scores, but math and science remain areas for improvement.