Summary:
Zip code 80653 serves the tiny, rural community of Weldona, Colorado, and contains just two public schools—Weldon Valley Elementary School (pre-K–6) and Weldon Valley Junior/Senior High School (7–12)—both part of the same small district, School District No. Re-20 Weldon Valley, with a combined enrollment of just 215 students sharing one campus.
The two schools present a mixed picture. Weldon Valley Junior/Senior High School is the stronger of the two by recent state ranking (59th percentile, 3 stars), with exceptional 8th-grade science achievement (63% proficient vs. 36% statewide) and strong PSAT 9 reading/writing scores (74% vs. 66%). However, it struggles with math and shows a staggering 50% graduation rate—well below the 85.6% state average—and only 31% SAT reading/writing proficiency for 11th graders. Weldon Valley Elementary School, meanwhile, slips to the 33rd percentile in its most recent rating and trails the state in math, though its 2024–25 ELA performance (48% proficient) slightly beat the state (44.8%). Elementary science is also a weakness (23.5% vs. 39% statewide). Both schools have low student–teacher ratios (12.5 and 10.3), which is a structural advantage for personalized attention.
The district’s 4-star rating (77th percentile) is notably higher than either school’s most recent individual ranking, likely because small cohort sizes make school-level data noisy. Chronic absenteeism is a clear bright spot—only 12.7% at the elementary and 13.3% at the high school, versus 28.4% statewide. Yet math proficiency is consistently below state averages at both schools, and CMAS scores generally declined between 2024–25 and 2025–26. With roughly one-third of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, the district is not exceptionally high-poverty, but the graduation rate and secondary literacy slide are urgent concerns that targeted support could address.
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