NCES CCD 2024-25 15 schools CO

Best-Resourced Schools in Durango, CO

Compiled from official source data by .

15 public K-12 schools in Durango from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
15
Schools
5,784
Students
46/100
Avg Resource Index
13.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Durango has more public-school enrollment than 61% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Durango sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

8 of Durango's 15 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 49-point gap between Southwest Colorado Eschool and Durango High School shows the range hidden by Durango's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 39%
School count
Top 23%
Resource Index average
74th percentile
Teacher staffing
72nd percentile

Durango High School accounts for 23.4% of all Durango public-school enrollment

That concentration means Durango-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Durango school enrollment varies 28× across entities

Durango school enrollment ranges from 48 students (lowest) to 1,352 students (highest), a spread of 1,304 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Durango student-teacher ratio is 13.6:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

3 of Durango's 15 listed schools are charters

20% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Southwest Colorado Eschool 80
2. Colorado Connections Academy @ Durango 57
3. Sunnyside Elementary School 53
4. Mountain Middle School 51
5. The Juniper School 49
6. Animas High School 48
7. Durango Big Picture High School 48
8. Miller Middle School 47
9. Escalante Middle School 43
10. Florida Mesa Elementary School 41
11. Animas Valley Elementary School 40
12. Riverview Elementary School 36
13. Park Elementary School 35
14. Durango High School 31
15. Needham Elementary School 31

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Durango

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Park Elementary School 60.3/100
  2. 2 Florida Mesa Elementary School 59.8/100
  3. 3 Durango Big Picture High School 58.6/100
  4. 4 Escalante Middle School 55.0/100
  5. 5 Animas Valley Elementary School 55.0/100

What do families ask about schools in Durango?

Which Durango school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Southwest Colorado Eschool has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Durango schools in this federal-data comparison at 80/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Durango, CO? ▼

Durango has 15 public schools with a total enrollment of 5,784 students. 3 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 13.6:1.

Other Cities in Colorado

Denver
232 schools
Colorado Springs
185 schools
Aurora
105 schools
Lakewood
54 schools
Fort Collins
47 schools
Pueblo
47 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Colorado →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.