Best Public Schools in Zip Code 80122

Zip code 80122, located in the Centennial/Littleton area of Colorado, is served by 7 schools in Littleton School District No. 6 — 4 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 1 high school — covering grades Pre-K through 12 with roughly 5,033 students.

All seven schools belong to Littleton School District No. 6, which ranks 8th out of 115 Colorado districts (93rd percentile) with a 5-star rating. This creates a high floor across the zip code: even the lowest-ranked school, Little Raven Elementary, exceeds state averages in both ELA (59.4% vs. 44.7%) and math (54.6% vs. 37.3%). Every school in the zip code earned at least 4 stars in the most recent year.

At the top, Arapahoe High School is the only high school in the zip code and ranks 26th out of 338 Colorado high schools, with a 95% graduation rate and SAT proficiency well above state averages. Newton Middle School is the highest-ranked middle school, placing 26th out of 469 statewide, led by exceptional 8th-grade math (81.6% proficient) and the lowest chronic absenteeism among secondary schools at 10.6%. Among the elementary schools, Sandburg Elementary stands out for its upward momentum, jumping from 188th to 109th in state rankings, and it posts the best elementary math proficiency in the zip code at 73.4%. Little Raven Elementary, while the lowest-ranked school in the area, has shown the fastest improvement, leaping from the 54th to the 73rd percentile.

The most notable comparison is between the two middle schools: Newton significantly outperforms John Wesley Powell Middle School in math (70.2% vs. 52.9%), while Powell also faces higher free/reduced lunch rates (25.5% vs. 12.6%) and higher chronic absenteeism. Arapahoe High posts elite academics but has a 22.4% chronic absenteeism rate, more than double Newton's. At the elementary level, Ford Elementary features a standout 5th-grade cohort with 81.2% ELA proficiency, while Hopkins Elementary shows a sharp drop-off from 3rd to 5th grade. Little Raven has the highest free/reduced lunch rate in the zip code at 40.2%, roughly three times that of Sandburg and Ford, yet it also has the lowest student-teacher ratio at 14.6:1, suggesting targeted resources are directed toward the highest-need school.