Colorado · NCES CCD 2024-25

Best Public Schools in Colorado

Top 50 schools ranked by resource quality score, based on student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance.

Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools Editorial. · Updated June 2026

The ranking in one line

Fraser Valley Elementary School in FRASER is Colorado's top-resourced public school, scoring 73/100 on the NCES resource index.

73/100
top score (grade B): 4
schools at the top grade (B): 64/100
average across the top 50

#	School	Grade	Enrollment	Student:Teacher	District	Score
1	Fraser Valley Elementary School FRASER	B	217	12.2:1	East Grand School District No. 2	73
2	West Middle School COLORADO SPRINGS	B	119	10.5:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	72
3	Crestone Charter School CRESTONE	B	100	9.1:1	Moffat School District No. 2 in the county of Saguache and	71
4	Cherry Creek Elevation CENTENNIAL	B	248	9.9:1	Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah	70
5	Dolores Elementary School DOLORES	B-	245	13.5:1	Dolores School District No. Re-4A	68
6	Dolores Secondary School DOLORES	B-	186	12.3:1	Dolores School District No. Re-4A	68
7	Center High School CENTER	B-	153	13.5:1	Center Consolidated School District No. 26 Jt. of the count	68
8	Granby Elementary School GRANBY	B-	366	12.3:1	East Grand School District No. 2	67
9	South Middle School AURORA	B-	139	13.9:1	Aurora Joint District No. 28 of the counties of Adams and A	67
10	Panorama Middle School COLORADO SPRINGS	B-	339	12.2:1	Harrison School District No. 2 in the county of El Paso an	66
11	Flagler Public School FLAGLER	B-	186	9.1:1	Arriba-Flagler Consolidated School District No. 20	66
12	Soda Creek Elementary School STEAMBOAT SPRINGS	B-	379	13:1	Steamboat Springs School District No. Re 2	65
13	Manitou Springs Middle School MANITOU SPRINGS	B-	275	12:1	Manitou Springs School District No. 14 in the county of El	65
14	St. Vrain Community Montessori School LONGMONT	B-	260	11.1:1	St. Vrain Valley School District No. Re1J	65
15	Carbon Valley Academy FREDERICK	B-	245	13.3:1	St. Vrain Valley School District No. Re1J	65
16	Empower Community High School AURORA	B-	214	8.9:1	Aurora Joint District No. 28 of the counties of Adams and A	65
17	Mesa Valley Community School GRAND JUNCTION	B-	178	17:1	Mesa County Valley School District No. 51	65
18	Fleming Elementary School FLEMING	B-	131	11.9:1	School District No. Re-3 Frenchman	65
19	West Grand High School KREMMLING	B-	123	9.3:1	West Grand School District No. 1	65
20	Ascend College Prep COLORADO SPRINGS	B-	109	17.8:1	EDUCATION REENVISIONED BOCES	65
21	Dsst: Elevate Northeast High School DENVER	C+	545	13.3:1	School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C	64
22	Fitzsimmons Middle School BAILEY	C+	138	12.1:1	Platte Canyon School District No. 1 of the county of Park	64
23	Peetz Elementary School PEETZ	C+	114	13.4:1	School District No. Re-5 Plateau	64
24	Walsh Elementary School WALSH	C+	105	11.9:1	Walsh School District No. Re-1	64
25	Strawberry Park Elementary School STEAMBOAT SPRINGS	C+	368	13.4:1	Steamboat Springs School District No. Re 2	63
26	Rocky Mountain Prep: Berkeley DENVER	C+	329	13.5:1	School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C	63
27	Peyton Senior High School PEYTON	C+	197	10.9:1	Peyton School District No. 23 in the county of El Paso and	63
28	Mcclave Elementary School MC CLAVE	C+	126	14.7:1	McClave School District No. Re-2	63
29	Eads Elementary School EADS	C+	119	17:1	Kiowa County School District No. Re-1	63
30	Wiley Junior-Senior High School WILEY	C+	115	10.2:1	Wiley School District No. Re-13 Jt	63
31	Colorado Stem Academy WESTMINSTER	C+	415	16.3:1	Westminster Public Schools	62
32	Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	404	16:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	62
33	Polaris Elementary School DENVER	C+	350	17.3:1	School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C	62
34	Roncalli Stem Academy PUEBLO	C+	293	12.2:1	Pueblo School District No. 60 in the county of Pueblo and	62
35	Galileo School of Math and Science COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	277	14.1:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	62
36	Global Village Academy Aurora AURORA	C+	802	12.2:1	Aurora Joint District No. 28 of the counties of Adams and A	61
37	Ellicott Elementary School ELLICOTT	C+	520	16:1	Ellicott School District No. 22 in the county of El Paso a	61
38	Aspen Middle School ASPEN	C+	414	11.7:1	Aspen School District No. 1 in the county of Pitkin and Sta	61
39	Franklin Middle School GREELEY	C+	367	15.9:1	GreeleySchool District No. 6 in the county of Weld and Sta	61
40	Mann Middle School COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	300	17.6:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	61
41	Genoa-Hugo School HUGO	C+	220	13.2:1	Genoa-Hugo School District No. C-113	61
42	Cheraw School CHERAW	C+	209	11.9:1	Cheraw School District No. 31 in the county of Otero and S	61
43	Ute Pass Elementary School CHIPITA PARK	C+	174	12.7:1	Manitou Springs School District No. 14 in the county of El	61
44	Dolores Middle School DOLORES	C+	166	15.6:1	Dolores School District No. Re-4A	61
45	King-Murphy Elementary School EVERGREEN	C+	151	15.1:1	Clear Creek School District No. Re-1	61
46	Hanover Junior-Senior High School COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	134	15.6:1	Hanover School District No. 28 in the county of El Paso an	61
47	Slavens K-8 School DENVER	C+	762	18.8:1	School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C	60
48	Mitchell High School COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	757	16.4:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	60
49	Manitou Springs High School MANITOU SPRINGS	C+	367	13.5:1	Manitou Springs School District No. 14 in the county of El	60
50	Rogers Elementary School COLORADO SPRINGS	C+	267	15.5:1	Colorado Springs School District No. 11 in the county of E	60

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best public schools in Colorado? ▼

The top-rated school in Colorado is Fraser Valley Elementary School in FRASER with a quality score of 73/100 (grade B). Rankings are based on student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, gifted programs, and attendance rates from NCES data.

How are school quality scores calculated? ▼

Quality scores (0-100) are computed from NCES data across 4 metrics: student-teacher ratio (lower is better, national avg ~16:1), counselor availability (ASCA recommends 250:1), gifted program availability, and chronic absenteeism rate (lower is better). This measures school resources, not test scores.

Explore More for Colorado

All Schools → Largest Schools → Absenteeism Data → Highest Spending → National Ranking →

Methodology

Quality scores (0-100) are computed from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 metrics: student-teacher ratio, school counselor availability, gifted program access, and chronic absenteeism rates. Schools must have at least 50 students and data for one or more metrics. This measures resource quality, not test scores. Higher scores indicate smaller class sizes, better counselor access, and lower absenteeism.

Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.