Best High Schools in Zip Code 80204

The five high schools in Denver's 80204 ZIP code — West High School, Denver Center for International Studies, Colorado High School Charter, Compassion Road Academy, and Girls Athletic Leadership School High School — all belong to School District No. 1 (Denver Public Schools), a district ranked in the 38th percentile statewide, and together serve roughly 1,234 students across grades 9–12 (with DCIS also including middle grades). These are high-poverty schools: free/reduced lunch eligibility averages about 78%, ranging from 61% at GALS to 91% at West High, and chronic absenteeism is a serious issue at every campus, with rates from 44.9% at DCIS to a staggering 86.8% at Compassion Road Academy — far above the state average of 28.4%.

There is a stark divide in outcomes within this single ZIP code. Denver Center for International Studies is the clear academic leader, graduating 94.4% of students with a dropout rate of just 1.5%, and posting test scores near or above district averages — including 56% proficiency in SAT reading/writing and 34.3% in 11th-grade science, more than double the district rate. Girls Athletic Leadership School High School also performs well, with an 88.5% graduation rate and the smallest class sizes in the group (5.4 students per teacher). West High School, the largest school here, shows a different pattern: very low test proficiency (4th percentile statewide) but an 82.0% graduation rate that matches the district average. Colorado High School Charter is the most concerning school, with a 26.6% graduation rate, a 16.0% dropout rate, and chronic absenteeism of 69.2% — making it a severe outlier by every measure.

For parents, the key takeaway is that school choice matters enormously within 80204. Denver Center for International Studies demonstrates that high poverty does not have to mean low achievement, while Compassion Road Academy shows that even a school with 86.8% chronic absenteeism can still graduate 84.8% of its students, likely through flexible scheduling or credit recovery. Notably, no recent test scores are available for three of the five schools, so direct academic comparisons are incomplete. Overall, parents should weigh graduation rates, attendance data, and school culture carefully — the same ZIP code contains both one of the district's strongest high schools and one of its most challenged.