Summary:
Zip code 81003 in Pueblo, Colorado contains exactly one high school, GOAL Academy, which serves grades 9 through 12 and reports a very large enrollment of 6,693 students, making it an unusually large and nontraditional school for the area.
GOAL Academy is a severe academic outlier, ranking 329th out of 338 Colorado high schools (3rd percentile) with a 0-star rating. This is especially striking because the school is authorized by El Paso County Colorado School District 49, a 4-star district ranked 33rd out of 115 statewide (71st percentile). The school’s graduation rate is just 49.0%, compared to the district’s 63.5% and the state’s 85.6%, while its dropout rate of 14.1% is more than double the district’s 6.7% and roughly nine times the state average. Math proficiency is near zero: only 1% of 11th graders were proficient on SAT Math, and only 4% of 9th and 10th graders were proficient on PSAT Math, against state averages of 32%, 40%, and 39%, respectively. Reading and writing scores are also low but less extreme, with 23% proficiency on SAT Reading & Writing versus 60% statewide.
One surprising bright spot is chronic absenteeism, which sits at 15.0%—well below the district’s 26.1% and the state’s 28.4%. This may reflect the school’s alternative or online model, which also helps explain its massive enrollment and high 30.9:1 student–teacher ratio. Test scores have generally stagnated or declined from the prior year, though CMAS Science improved slightly from 7.6% to 8.7% and PSAT9 Reading & Writing edged up from 37% to 38%. The free/reduced lunch rate is not reported, so poverty's impact cannot be assessed. Overall, GOAL Academy is a large, low-performing school in need of significant intervention, particularly in math and student completion, despite its relatively strong authorizing district and low absenteeism.
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