Summary:
Zip code 80301 in Boulder, Colorado, is home to just two schools within the Boulder Valley School District No. Re2 — a highly rated 5-star district in the 96th percentile statewide — and those schools could not be more different: Heatherwood Elementary School serves grades PK–5 with 252 students, while Boulder Prep Charter High School serves grades 9–12 with 114 students, and there is no middle school option within the zip code.
Heatherwood Elementary School is the clear academic standout. Its students score well above state averages on Colorado's CMAS assessments, with 66.7% proficient in ELA compared to 44.7% statewide, 58.8% proficient in math versus 37.3% statewide, and 63.9% proficient in 5th grade science versus 36.1% statewide. The school also has a very low chronic absenteeism rate of 9.0%, far below the district's 17.5% and the state's 28.4%. Heatherwood's current 5th graders scored an impressive 82.4% proficient in both ELA and math, though 4th grade math proficiency dips to 39.5% — a potential area of concern worth investigating. The school currently ranks 172nd of 943 elementary schools in Colorado (82nd percentile, 4 stars), down slightly from the 92nd percentile in prior years despite continued strong scores.
Boulder Prep Charter High School faces severe challenges. Its graduation rate of 30.0% is dramatically below the district's 93.3% and the state's 85.6%, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 54.5% means more than half of students are chronically absent — a 45.5 percentage point gap compared to Heatherwood. The dropout rate of 3.4% is more than double the state's 1.6%. Despite a favorable student–teacher ratio of 10.2, these outcomes show that small classes alone cannot overcome the broader challenges Boulder Prep's students face. Together, these two schools illustrate that even within a top-tier district like Boulder Valley School District No. Re2, school-level outcomes can vary enormously, and parents should look closely at individual school data rather than district reputation alone.
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