Best High Schools in Zip Code 80909

Zip code 80909 in Colorado Springs contains five high schools serving grades 6 through 12, all within Colorado Springs School District No. 11, a district ranked 66th of 115 in the state. The schools range widely in model and size: Mitchell High School is the largest traditional high school with 757 students, while Achieve Online (342), Nikola Tesla Education Opportunity Center (291), Odyssey Early College and Career Options (287), and The Bijou School (134) offer online, alternative, and early college options.

The clear standout is Odyssey Early College and Career Options, ranked 41st of 338 Colorado high schools (88th percentile, 4 stars) with a 93.5% graduation rate and proficiency rates far above district and state averages in every subject, despite a 51.2% free/reduced lunch population. At the opposite extreme, Nikola Tesla EOC ranks 338th (last in the state) and The Bijou School ranks 337th, with chronic absenteeism near 90% and graduation rates of 65.7% and 56.7%, respectively. Mitchell, the largest school, ranks 315th with very low math proficiency (8% on SAT Math) and a 68.8% graduation rate. Achieve Online sits in the middle at 281st, with a 70.3% graduation rate and comparatively solid reading scores, but no math results reported.

Several findings stand out for families. First, three schools — Achieve Online, Odyssey, and Bijou — share the same address at 2115 Afton Way, yet their rankings span from 41st to 337th, showing that school model matters more than location. Second, chronic absenteeism is a systemic crisis: all five schools exceed the state average of 28.4%, and four exceed the district's 45.8%. Third, math proficiency is alarmingly low except at Odyssey, where PSAT9 math proficiency is 71% versus 10% at Mitchell. Finally, Odyssey's highest student-teacher ratio (28.7) with the best outcomes suggests instructional focus and school culture matter more than class size alone.