Summary:
Zip code 80304 in Boulder, Colorado is served by two public middle schools — Centennial Middle School and Casey Middle School — both serving grades 6 through 8 within the highly ranked Boulder Valley School District No. Re2.
Centennial Middle School is the clear academic standout in this area. It ranks 85th among 469 Colorado middle schools, placing in the 82nd percentile with a 4-star rating. Centennial outperforms Casey in every subject by roughly 28 to 33 percentage points: ELA proficiency is 60.6% versus 30.4%, math is 50.8% versus 22.2%, and science is 62.2% versus 29.6%. Centennial also exceeds both district and state averages in 8th-grade science and math, with a 62.2% science proficiency rate that more than doubles the state average of 35.4%.
Casey Middle School, while academically behind, has shown real improvement. Its ranking jumped from the 41st percentile in 2023–2024 to the 53rd percentile in 2025–2026, and its star rating improved from 2 to 3 stars. Casey serves a student population with nearly double the economic need — 65% of its students qualify for free/reduced lunch compared to 33% at Centennial — and it also maintains a notably better student-to-teacher ratio of 12.6 versus Centennial's 19.3. Despite having more teachers per student, Casey's test scores remain well below district and state averages, suggesting that economic factors and other challenges play a significant role in outcomes. Chronic absenteeism is a shared concern for both schools, with rates around 24–25%, well above the district average of 17.5% but below the state average of 28.4%. Both schools report essentially zero dropout rates. The achievement gap between these two schools is dramatic, yet they sit in the same zip code, same district, and serve the same grade levels — illustrating just how much school-level conditions and student demographics can shape academic results.
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