Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 80121

ZIP code 80121 is home to three elementary schools—Lois Lenski Elementary School, Gudy Gaskill Elementary, and Field Elementary School—serving grades K-5 across Centennial and Littleton, Colorado, all part of the highly rated Littleton School District No. 6, which ranks 8th out of 115 Colorado districts.

These three schools share the same ZIP code and district, yet their academic profiles could hardly be more different. Lois Lenski is the clear standout: it ranks 49th out of 943 Colorado elementary schools (95th percentile, 5 stars), with ELA proficiency at 74.5%, math at 70.1%, and science at 61.4%—all well above district and state averages. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism (9.1%) and the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (11.2%) in the group. Gudy Gaskill is a solid above-average performer (82nd percentile, 4 stars), with math and science proficiency above district averages, but its ELA proficiency (60.5%) dips slightly below the district (62.1%), and its state rank has slipped modestly over the past three years. Field Elementary, by contrast, is struggling: it ranks in the 25th percentile (1 star), with proficiency rates at or below 28.6% in ELA and math, and just 15% in science—less than half the state averages. Field also has the highest chronic absenteeism (30.1%) and a free/reduced lunch rate of nearly 74%, the highest by a wide margin.

The most striking finding is the enormous achievement gap within this single ZIP code—Lois Lenski and Field are 658 places apart in state rankings, with a 46-percentage-point gap in science proficiency alone. Poverty and attendance strongly track with these differences: Field's free/reduced lunch rate is 6.6 times higher than Lois Lenski's, and its chronic absenteeism is roughly triple. Perhaps most surprising, Field has the smallest class sizes (12.2 students per teacher) compared to Lois Lenski (18.5), yet performs far worse—a reminder that factors like poverty and attendance often outweigh student-teacher ratios. Meanwhile, Lois Lenski is improving its state rank year over year, while Field has stalled or declined. For parents, this ZIP code offers a microcosm of educational inequality: a top-tier school, a reliable middle option, and a school in urgent need of targeted support and intervention.