Enrollment
367
Elementary
DISTRICT 258 · STATE 379
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DURANGO SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 9-R·NCES 080348000453
Needham Elementary School
2425 WEST THIRD AVENUE, DURANGO, CO 81301 · (970) 247-4791 · La Plata County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL367 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 52% of Colorado public elementary schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+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
11.6:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.4:1 · STATE 16.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
155 students
DISTRICT 42% · STATE 50%
Community
0
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 | 37 | 10% |
| Kindergarten | 47 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 59 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 55 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 60 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 56 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 53 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (47) is 11% smaller than its 5th grade class (53).
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
50.0%
CO avg 44.9% . -1.3pp since 2023
Math
33.5%
CO avg 36.1% . -2.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 34 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Colorado schools, those numbers are about 45 and 36. Reading and writing scores are down about 1 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
CMAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.0% | 33.5% |
| 2023-24 | 51.3% | 35.9% |
% 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
41.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
41.1%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 42% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 41% 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 Needham Elementary School
Needham Elementary School's state test result (41.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needham Elementary School this school | 367 | 42.2% | 41.6% |
| Longmont Estates Elementary School LONGMONT | 365 | 42.2% | 51.1% |
| Prairie Hills Elementary School COLORADO SPRINGS | 348 | 40.8% | 47.3% |
| Cottonwood Elementary School MONTROSE | 394 | 40.6% | 48.7% |
| Kruse Elementary School FORT COLLINS | 406 | 38.9% | 65.2% |
| Johnson Elementary School FORT COLLINS | 348 | 39.1% | 53.4% |
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 Needham Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In La Plata County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 41.6% | #413 of 931 | #5 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 33.5% | #489 of 940 ▼ 44 | #5 of 10 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.0% | #368 of 946 ▼ 25 | #4 of 10 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 367 | #523 of 1,056 | #3 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.6:1 | #41 of 896 | #4 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 51.7% | #398 of 896 | #4 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.2% | #556 of 983 | #6 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.0% | #386 of 664 | #6 of 7 |
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
367
-25 (-6%) vs 2020
-45% since 1990-91, when it was 667
Student : Teacher
11.6:1
was 14.5:1
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 | 367 | 31.7 | 11.6:1 | 42% (155) |
| 2023-24 | 347 | 29.2 | 11.9:1 | 46% (160) |
| 2022-23 | 388 | 28.7 | 13.5:1 | 37% (144) |
| 2020-21 | 392 | 27 | 14.5:1 | 29% (114) |
| 2017-18 | 432 | 28.7 | 15.1:1 | 33% (143) |
| 2015-16 | 472 | 28 | 16.9:1 | 32% (152) |
| 2010-11 | 536 | 28 | 19.1:1 | 32% (174) |
| 2000-01 | 455 | 26 | 17.5:1 | 24% (111) |
| 1990-91 | 667 | 29 | 23.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Needham Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (432 to 367); teachers up 10% (28.7 to 31.7).
About Needham Elementary School
Families in DURANGO, Colorado, are served by Needham Elementary School, a mid-sized elementary school. The school teaches pre-K through 5 and enrolls 367 students.
Durango School District No. 9-R serves 5,089 students across 13 schools.
More than half of the students at Needham Elementary School are White (66%). Next come 20% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 5% Native American. That compares with about 82% White among all La Plata County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 52%.
There are 31.7 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 11.6:1. The gap from the 16.6:1 average for elementary schools in Colorado is 5.0 students per teacher. On the income side, 42% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Needham Elementary School earns a B- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 52% of Colorado public elementary schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 41.1% for Needham Elementary School. The school posts 41.6%, within a point of the prediction.
In the surrounding county, La Plata County, the median household earns about $86,056 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 49%, and about 8% of people live in poverty. Counting Needham Elementary School, La Plata County has 24 public schools.
About 0.3 miles separate Needham Elementary School from the closest public school, Miller Middle School. The five-mile area around Needham Elementary School holds at least 8 other public schools. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Needham Elementary School at 4th of 5.
Federal records code the school's setting as Town: Distant.
The school's student count fell 6% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio dropped to 11.6:1, from 14.5:1.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
La Plata County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
56,331
Census ACS
Median income
$86,056
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
49%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
24
7,504 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Durango School District No. 9-R
- Durango High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Colorado Connections Academy @ DurangoCombined · 752 students
- Escalante Middle SchoolMiddle · 461 students
- Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 452 students
- Riverview Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
- Miller Middle SchoolMiddle · 360 students
Other schools in DURANGO
- Durango High SchoolHigh · 1,352 students
- Colorado Connections Academy @ DurangoCombined · 752 students
- Escalante Middle SchoolMiddle · 461 students
- Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 452 students
- Riverview Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
- Miller Middle SchoolMiddle · 360 students
Other Needham Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Needham Elementary. Needham Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Needham Elementary SchoolFranklin, IN · 347 students
Nearby schools
- Miller Middle School0.3 mi · 360
- Durango High School0.3 mi · 1,352
- Mountain Middle School0.7 mi · 302
- Riverview Elementary School0.9 mi · 374
- Southwest Colorado eSchool1.3 mi · 48
- Animas High School1.4 mi · 249
Frequently asked questions
About Needham Elementary SchoolHow large is Needham Elementary School?
Needham Elementary School enrolls approximately 367 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Needham Elementary School serve?
Needham Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does Needham Elementary School have?
Needham Elementary School employs 32 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.6:1.
What is the student diversity at Needham Elementary School?
Student demographics at Needham Elementary School are roughly 66% White, 20% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Needham Elementary School in?
Needham Elementary School is part of Durango School District No. 9-R.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.