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What's the one class at Ben Franklin Academy every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
956
Elementary
DISTRICT 517 · STATE 379
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. RE 1·NCES 080345006492
Ben Franklin Academy
2270 PLAZA DR, HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO 80129 · (720) 383-4519 · Douglas County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBCHARTERREGULAR SCHOOL956 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 74% of Colorado public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Colorado public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.1:1 · STATE 16.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
8%
79 students
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 68 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 91 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 91 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 104 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 104 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 104 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 103 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 105 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 98 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 88 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (91) is about the same size as its 8th grade class (88).
Student demographics
40%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 52% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CMAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
70.4%
CO avg 44.9% . +6.3pp since 2023
Math
66.7%
CO avg 36.1% . +10.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 70 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 67 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Colorado schools, those numbers are about 45 and 36. Reading and writing scores are up about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
CMAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 70.4% | 66.7% |
| 2023-24 | 64.1% | 56.7% |
% Met or Exceeded Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CMAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
63.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.7%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 63% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 62% typical for Colorado schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Colorado's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Ben Franklin Academy
Ben Franklin Academy's state test result (63.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Franklin Academy this school | 956 | 8.3% | 63.5% |
| Three Creeks K-8 ARVADA | 1,050 | 6.4% | 58.0% |
| Aspen View Academy CASTLE ROCK | 1,018 | 10.2% | 49.0% |
| Soaring Heights PK-8 ERIE | 1,211 | 12.6% | 60.1% |
| Slavens K-8 School DENVER | 762 | 13.3% | 84.6% |
| Jefferson Academy Elementary BROOMFIELD | 737 | 17.6% | 58.8% |
Matched among Colorado elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ben Franklin Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In Douglas County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 63.5% | #117 of 931 | #24 of 58 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 66.7% | #79 of 940 ▲ 80 | #17 of 58 ▲ 12 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 70.4% | #79 of 946 ▲ 78 | #20 of 58 ▲ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 956 | #14 of 1,056 | #4 of 62 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.0:1 | #864 of 896 | #58 of 59 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 39.6% | #687 of 896 | #51 of 59 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 8.3% | #964 of 983 | #52 of 60 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.9% | #132 of 200 | #9 of 14 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
956
+49 (+5%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
was 22.1:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 956 | 47.8 | 20.0:1 | 8% (79) |
| 2023-24 | 879 | 47 | 18.7:1 | 9% (80) |
| 2022-23 | 893 | 45.5 | 19.6:1 | 3% (30) |
| 2020-21 | 907 | 41 | 22.1:1 | 4% (36) |
| 2017-18 | 903 | 44.4 | 20.4:1 | 2% (18) |
| 2015-16 | 896 | 44 | 20.4:1 | 5% (41) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ben Franklin Academy.
Since 2017-18: students up 6% (903 to 956); teachers up 8% (44.4 to 47.8).
About Ben Franklin Academy
Ben Franklin Academy is a large elementary school. Its address is in HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado. There are 956 students enrolled, covering pre-K through 8. That puts enrollment 152% bigger than the 379-student average for elementary schools in Colorado.
Douglas County School District No. Re 1 has a total of 89 schools and 61,550 students, Ben Franklin Academy among them.
Of every 100 students at Ben Franklin Academy, about 76 are White. It is also 12% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, and 4% Asian. Among Douglas County residents, the White share is about 80%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 40%.
Ben Franklin Academy has 47.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 20.0:1. Elementary schools in Colorado have an average ratio of 16.6:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 8%. On average, public schools in Douglas County report 18%.
Among Colorado public elementary schools, Ben Franklin Academy outscored 74%, which works out to a B+ on the allk12 Grade.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 61.7% for Ben Franklin Academy. The school posts 63.5%, 1.8 points above the prediction.
In Douglas County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $149,594, about 62% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 3% of residents are in poverty. There are 92 public schools in the county, enrolling about 63,841, Ben Franklin Academy among them.
The closest school to Ben Franklin Academy is STEM School Highlands Ranch, located about 1.0 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. In a group of 9 nearby schools with scores, Ben Franklin Academy ranks 4th on average proficiency.
Federal data place Ben Franklin Academy in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more. Ben Franklin Academy is a publicly funded charter school.
The school's enrollment increased 5% from 2020-21 to 2024-25. Students per teacher dropped from 22.1 in 2020-21 to 20.0 in 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Ben Franklin Academy. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Douglas County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
377,150
Census ACS
Median income
$149,594
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
62%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
92
63,841 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Douglas County School District No. Re 1
- American AcademyElementary · 2,803 students
- Rock Canyon High SchoolHigh · 2,325 students
- Legend High SchoolHigh · 2,206 students
- Mountain Vista High SchoolHigh · 2,169 students
- Chaparral High SchoolHigh · 2,007 students
- Castle View High SchoolHigh · 1,938 students
Other schools in HIGHLANDS RANCH
- Rock Canyon High SchoolHigh · 2,325 students
- Mountain Vista High SchoolHigh · 2,169 students
- Thunderridge High SchoolHigh · 1,820 students
- STEM School Highlands RanchCombined · 1,394 students
- Skyview AcademyCombined · 1,358 students
- Highlands Ranch High SchoolHigh · 1,323 students
Nearby schools
- STEM School Highlands Ranch1.0 mi · 1,394
- Littleton Academy1.2 mi · 455
- Trailblazer Elementary School1.4 mi · 330
- Eldorado Elementary School1.5 mi · 377
- Thunderridge High School1.7 mi · 1,820
- Northridge Elementary School1.9 mi · 560
Frequently asked questions
About Ben Franklin AcademyHow large is Ben Franklin Academy?
Ben Franklin Academy enrolls approximately 956 students in grades PK-08.
Is Ben Franklin Academy an elementary, middle, or high school?
Ben Franklin Academy is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many students per teacher at Ben Franklin Academy?
Approximately 20.0:1 students per teacher at Ben Franklin Academy.
How diverse is Ben Franklin Academy?
Ben Franklin Academy reports a student body of 76% White, 12% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Ben Franklin Academy?
Ben Franklin Academy is overseen by Douglas County School District No. Re 1 in Douglas County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.