Gillespie CUSD 7

Gillespie CUSD 7 has three schools serving prekindergarten through 12th grade, with 1,095 students across elementary, middle, and high school. In 2025–2026 all-grades IAR results, Ben-Gil Elementary scored 55% in ELA and 38% in math, while Gillespie Middle scored 49% in ELA and 42% in math. Compared with state results, Ben-Gil was 1 point below in ELA and 1 point below in math; Middle was 8 points below in ELA but 2 points above in math. The most important takeaway is that no single school leads across all subjects: strengths vary by school, grade, and subject.

Gillespie High stands out in SchoolDigger’s recent rankings, at the 65th percentile in 2025–2026, compared with the 45th for Ben-Gil and 43rd for Middle. Its 11th-grade ACT ELA proficiency was 67%, 17 points above the state; Ben-Gil’s 5th-grade ELA was 64%, 9 points above the state, while its 5th-grade math was 23%, 13 points below. Middle’s 8th-grade math was 50%, 15 points above the state, but its 7th-grade ELA was 38%, 20 points below. These results show why a school’s overall standing may not capture the experience in a particular grade or subject.

Gillespie High’s recent ELA results improved substantially: 11th-grade ACT ELA rose from 36% in 2024–2025 to 67% in 2025–2026, while its SchoolDigger percentile rank rose from 31 to 65 between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026. Ben-Gil’s and Middle’s percentiles fell over that period, from 66 to 45 and from 57 to 43, respectively. Other family-relevant measures also differ: 2024–2025 student-teacher ratios ranged from 12.4 at Ben-Gil to 13.6 at Middle, and free/reduced lunch eligible rates that year ranged from 57% at Gillespie High to 66% at Ben-Gil. Gillespie High also paired a 94% graduation rate with 27% chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026, the highest reported rate among these schools.