Schools in Zip Code 80249

Zip code 80249 in Denver is home to 16 schools within School District No. 1, serving roughly 8,997 students from elementary through high school in a high-need area where about 79% of students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch and chronic absenteeism averages 44.6%, well above district and state averages. Most schools here perform below both state and district averages on CMAS, SAT, and PSAT assessments, yet there are several notable exceptions and encouraging improvement trends.

DSST: Green Valley Ranch High School is the clear leader, ranking in the 59th percentile with a 94.5% graduation rate, a 1.1% dropout rate, and SAT Math proficiency of 41%, exceeding district and state averages. Its feeder, DSST: Green Valley Ranch Middle School, has the lowest chronic absenteeism in the zip code at 25.8% and beats the state in 7th grade ELA. Among elementary schools, KIPP Northeast Elementary ranks highest at the 33rd percentile, up from the 11th percentile in two years, while Green Valley Elementary School improved from the 16th to 27th percentile. KIPP Northeast Denver Leadership Academy climbed from the 11th to 26th percentile in one year with strong SAT gains, and Rocky Mountain Prep RISE posts a graduation rate of 89.1%.

However, challenges remain. Legacy Options High School has just a 60.3% graduation rate and a 16.7% dropout rate, more than ten times higher than DSST's. Vista Academy and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Early College rank at the 1st and 3rd percentiles, with chronic absenteeism of 73.9% and 49.7%. Early literacy is a major concern at Marrama Elementary School, where just 6.5% of 3rd graders are proficient in ELA. Across the zip code, the lowest-performing schools tend to have the highest chronic absenteeism, making attendance the clearest lever for improvement. Still, the success of the DSST schools and the rapid gains at KIPP schools show high achievement is possible in this community.