Best High Schools in Zip Code 79512

Zip code 79512, serving Colorado City, Texas, contains two high schools within the Colorado Independent School District (Isd): the traditional Colorado High School and the alternative Wallace Accelerated High School, which together serve grades 9-12 in a community facing significant economic challenges.

Colorado High School is the standout performer in the area, boasting a perfect 100% graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate for the 2023-2024 school year, despite over half its 228 students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Its academic proficiency is mixed: while it meets or exceeds the district average in subjects like Biology (69.81% proficient) and U.S. History (76.47% proficient), it falls below state averages in Algebra I (40.38%) and English I (40%). In contrast, Wallace Accelerated High School serves a highly at-risk population of just 18 students, with 83.33% qualifying for free or reduced lunch. This campus faces extreme challenges, reflected in a 0-star rating and a state rank in the bottom 2% of Texas high schools. Its graduation rate is 89.5%, with a 6.5% dropout rate, and academic proficiency is critically low, including 0% in English II Reading.

A key takeaway is the "two schools" paradox within the district: Colorado High School successfully graduates all its students, but its academic scores in core subjects lag behind state averages, suggesting a focus on completion over proficiency. Meanwhile, Wallace Accelerated High School functions as a crisis-intervention campus, where the data highlights the immense difficulty of educating its student body. Notably, Colorado High School spends $15,250 per student, significantly more than the $12,608 spent at Wallace Accelerated High School, which is counterintuitive given the higher needs of the alternative school. A reported student-to-teacher ratio of 178.1:1 at Colorado High School is likely a data error and should be disregarded.