Summary:
Middle schools in zip code 81211, serving the Buena Vista, Colorado area, consist of a single campus: Buena Vista Middle School, which enrolls 211 students in grades 6–8. The school is part of Buena Vista School District No. R-31, a district ranked 41st out of 115 in Colorado. With a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.9 and a small enrollment, the school provides an intimate, community-focused environment where individualized attention is realistic.
Buena Vista Middle School's most impressive strength is attendance: its chronic absenteeism rate of 11.1% is dramatically better than the district's 15.5% and the state's 28.4%, signaling strong student engagement. Science is another clear bright spot. Eighth-grade science proficiency reached 55.2% in 2024–2025 and 42.2% in 2025–2026, both comfortably above state averages. The school has also improved its overall state ranking, recovering from a 2-star rating in 2023–2024 to a 3-star rating in both 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, climbing from the 37th to the 53rd percentile among Colorado middle schools.
Academically, English Language Arts and math proficiency still trail state averages. In 2025–2026, the school posted 36.6% proficiency in ELA versus 44.7% statewide, and 31.3% in math versus 37.3% statewide. A notable exception is 7th-grade math, where the school's 40.7% proficiency exceeds the state's 32.9%. Conversely, 8th-grade ELA is a concern at 28.6%, well below the state's 42.2% and markedly lower than the school's own 6th-grade (40.7%) and 7th-grade (41.4%) ELA results. Year-over-year scores show some volatility—ELA dropped from 47.8% to 36.6%—so monitoring future cohorts is worthwhile. Overall, parents will find a school with excellent attendance, strong science instruction, a supportive student-teacher ratio, and a solid foundation for continued academic growth.
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