Best High Schools in Zip Code 80214

ZIP code 80214, which includes parts of Edgewater and Lakewood, Colorado, contains two high schools—Jefferson Junior/Senior High School and Jefferson County Open Secondary—both serving grades 7–12 within the Jefferson County School District No. R-1. Despite sharing a ZIP code and district, these two schools have vastly different academic profiles and state rankings.

Jefferson County Open Secondary is the clear standout, ranking in the 61st percentile statewide with a 3-star rating. Its students excel in reading and writing: 61.3% scored proficient on CMAS ELA, 82% on PSAT9 reading/writing, and 66% on SAT reading/writing—all at or above district and state averages. Math is improving too, rising from 32.9% to 35.7% on CMAS and from 13% to 25% on SAT Math. The school also has a very low dropout rate of 0.6%. In contrast, Jefferson Junior/Senior High School ranks in the bottom 1% of Colorado high schools, with just 13.2% ELA proficiency and 6% math proficiency on CMAS. Its SAT reading/writing proficiency is only 20%, and SAT Math sits at 4%. The school also struggles with chronic absenteeism at 58.7%—more than double the state average—and a dropout rate of 1.7%.

Both schools graduate students at similar rates—77.5% at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School and 76.0% at Jefferson County Open Secondary—well below the state average of 85.6%. However, this masks very different student experiences: Open Secondary has lower chronic absenteeism (36% vs. 58.7%) and much stronger academics. Poverty likely plays a role at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School, where 78.7% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. While math remains a challenge at both schools, the differences in this ZIP code show that a strong district overall—Jefferson County School District No. R-1 ranks 24th out of 115 districts in Colorado—does not guarantee strong outcomes at every school. For parents, choosing between these two schools means weighing Open Secondary's strong literacy focus and improving math scores against the significant challenges facing Jefferson Junior/Senior High School.