NCES CCD 2024-25 40 schools CO

Best-Resourced Schools in Thornton, CO

Compiled from official source data by .

40 public K-12 schools in Thornton 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
40
Schools
21,640
Students
39.7/100
Avg Resource Index
18.2:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Thornton has more public-school enrollment than 93% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Thornton 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

21 of Thornton's 40 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 48-point gap between Adams12 Five Star Preschool and Preschool on Poze shows the range hidden by Thornton'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 7%
School count
Top 5%
Resource Index average
44th percentile
Teacher staffing
24th percentile

Thornton school enrollment varies 50× across entities

Thornton school enrollment ranges from 36 students (lowest) to 1,784 students (highest), a spread of 1,748 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. 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

Thornton student-teacher ratio is 18.2:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Adams12 Five Star Preschool 65
2. Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts 57
3. Pathways Future Center 51
4. Prairie Hills Elementary School 51
5. Achieve Academy 51
6. Hunters Glen Elementary School 50
7. Stargate Charter School 49
8. Silver Creek Elementary 49
9. Clayton Partnership School 48
10. Mapleton Early Career Preparation 47
11. Explore Pk-8 44
12. North Valley School for Young Adults 44
13. Stem Launch 43
14. Tarver Elementary School 43
15. Eagleview Elementary School 43
16. Meadow Community School 43
17. Rocky Top Middle School 42
18. Century Middle School 40
19. Shadow Ridge Middle School 40
20. Riverdale Elementary School 40
21. Skyview Elementary School 40
22. Academy High School 39
23. Thornton High School 38
24. Coronado Hills Elementary School 38
25. Five Star Online Academy 37
26. New America School - Thornton 37
27. Thornton Elementary School 36
28. Cherry Drive Elementary School 36
29. Woodglen Elementary School 35
30. Stellar Elementary School 34
31. Westgate Community School 33
32. York International 32
33. Thornton Middle School 32
34. Bright Horizons Preschool 30
35. West Ridge Elementary 29
36. Brantner Elementary School 29
37. Rodger Quist Middle School 28
38. Mcelwain Elementary School 25
39. Riverdale Ridge High School 24
40. Preschool on Poze 17

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Thornton

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 West Ridge Elementary 66.6/100
  2. 2 Stargate Charter School 66.0/100
  3. 3 Tarver Elementary School 63.9/100
  4. 4 Westgate Community School 63.3/100
  5. 5 Brantner Elementary School 62.6/100

What do families ask about schools in Thornton?

Which Thornton school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Adams12 Five Star Preschool has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Thornton schools in this federal-data comparison at 65/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Thornton, CO? ▼

Thornton has 40 public schools with a total enrollment of 21,640 students. 3 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 18.2:1.

Other Cities in Colorado

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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.