Schools in Zip Code 81101

Schools in zip code 81101 serve roughly 2,000 students across six schools in the Alamosa School District No. Re-11J, spanning grades K-12 in a high-poverty, rural Colorado community. The district includes two elementary schools, one middle school, and three high-school-level programs, though two of those—Alamosa Online and Alamosa Alternative Education School—serve grades 6-12 in non-traditional settings. Every school with reported data has more than 70% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, and the alternative school tops 95%, indicating a uniformly disadvantaged student population.

Alamosa High School stands out as the strongest traditional option, with an 86% graduation rate that beats both the district (84.2%) and state (85.6%), plus the lowest chronic absenteeism in the zip code at 17.9%. However, its academic proficiency remains low—only 41% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT Reading/Writing versus 60% statewide. At the other end, Alamosa Alternative Education School faces the most severe challenges: 58.8% chronic absenteeism, a 72.2% graduation rate, and the highest student-to-teacher ratio (25.2:1) in the area. Ortega Middle School shows the most alarming academic gap, with just 9.6% of 6th graders proficient in math versus a 32.7% state average.

The most striking pattern is the collapse in math proficiency between 3rd and 5th grade at Alamosa Elementary School 3-5: 3rd graders exceeded the state average at 42.8% proficient, but by 5th grade only 14.8% were proficient, far below the 39.3% state average. This feeds directly into the single-digit middle school math scores. Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide concern, ranging from 17.9% at the high school to 58.8% at the alternative school, with most schools near or above the state's 28.4% rate. School rankings are uniformly low—no school ranks above the 40th percentile, and some have slipped in recent years. While Alamosa High School graduates students at a respectable rate, the low proficiency scores feeding into it suggest those graduates may not be fully college- or career-ready. For parents, the key takeaway is that math intervention in late elementary and middle school is the most urgent priority, while the high school's graduation rate offers a foundation of hope.