Summary:
Zip code 81005 in Pueblo, Colorado, is home to two middle schools serving grades 6–8—Pueblo Academy of Arts and D60 Online School—both belonging to Pueblo School District No. 60, a district ranked in the bottom 12% of Colorado districts with a 1-star rating. Pueblo Academy of Arts is the larger school with 562 students, while D60 Online School serves just 112 students. Pueblo Academy of Arts also serves a high-poverty population, with 85.41% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch; D60 Online did not report this metric.
D60 Online School is the higher-performing of the two schools. In 2025–2026, D60 Online's English Language Arts proficiency was 18.8% compared to just 9.1% at Pueblo Academy of Arts, and its science proficiency was 16.7% versus 6.8%. D60 Online's most recent state ranking placed it in the 12th percentile (427 out of 485), while Pueblo Academy of Arts is currently in the bottom 1% (464 out of 469). This relative strength is notable because D60 Online operates with a higher student-teacher ratio of 21.8 compared to 17.1 at Pueblo Academy of Arts, and it faces a similar chronic absenteeism rate.
Both schools face severe academic challenges. Math proficiency is critically low: just 2.3% of students at Pueblo Academy of Arts and 3.4% at D60 Online School met state standards, compared to 37.3% statewide. Chronic absenteeism affects more than half of students at both schools—54.3% at Pueblo Academy of Arts and 53.5% at D60 Online—versus 28.4% statewide. Pueblo Academy of Arts is also trending downward, with ELA proficiency falling from 13.1% to 9.1% and math from 6.4% to 2.3% year over year, while D60 Online improved slightly in ELA and science. Both schools remain far below even their district's own low averages, suggesting that significant interventions around absenteeism and foundational academic skills are urgently needed.
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