Highland Elementary School

As a mid-tier K-5 school in RIFLE, Colorado, Highland Elementary School teaches 451 students from grades pre-K through 5, operated by Garfield School District No. Re-2.

Garfield School District No. Re-2 runs 10 schools in total, collectively educating 4,695 students. Highland Elementary School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Highland Elementary School logs that Hispanic students make up the majority at 69%. The remainder looks like 27% White, 2% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 33%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 16.6:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 57% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

After controlling for student poverty, Highland Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 32.0%, the actual is 22.6%, a residual of -9.5 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Garfield County put median household income runs about $91,131, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Garfield County's 29 public schools (combined enrollment of about 10,790 students), Highland Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Graham Mesa Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Highland Elementary School comes 6th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 25.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-based area.

Looking at the recent track record. Highland Elementary School's enrollment has climbed 7% since 2018, when it stood at 422 (now 451). Hispanic enrollment moved from 55% to 69% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Highland Elementary School community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.