Best High Schools in Zip Code 81005

The two high schools in zip code 81005 in Pueblo, Colorado—South High School and Paragon Learning Center—serve grades 9 through 12 within Pueblo School District No. 60, a district ranked 101 out of 115 Colorado districts and sitting in the bottom 12% statewide. Both schools rank in the lowest 10% of Colorado high schools, with South High at 308th and Paragon at 313th out of 338 schools in 2025–2026.

South High School is the larger school, with 795 students and a high-poverty population (73.21% free/reduced lunch). Despite very low test proficiency—math scores hover around 10–11% and science around 9–11% compared to state averages of 32–39% and roughly 25%—South High posts a strong 93.5% graduation rate, above both the district (88.9%) and state (85.6%). However, chronic absenteeism is extremely high at 47.0%, meaning nearly half of students miss significant school time. In reading and writing, South High shows relative strength, with a 46% SAT proficiency rate in 2024–2025 that actually beat the district’s 38%.

Paragon Learning Center presents a different profile. With 476 students and a student-teacher ratio of 21.6, it has a much lower chronic absenteeism rate of 19.8%—well below the district’s 41.6% and the state’s 28.4%. Paragon also matched or exceeded district-level reading/writing scores on some PSAT exams, reaching 46% proficiency on PSAT9 reading/writing in 2025–2026. Yet its graduation rate is just 74.0%, and its dropout rate of 6.7% is more than four times the district rate (1.4%). No math scores were reported for Paragon, possibly due to small test cohorts or a nontraditional curriculum. Together, these schools show that graduation success and academic proficiency do not always align, and that high poverty, absenteeism, and low math/science achievement remain central challenges for this area.