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What do you wish you knew before starting at Riverdale Ridge High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,784
High
DISTRICT 987 · STATE 627
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SCHOOL DISTRICT 27J·NCES 080258006738
Riverdale Ridge High School
13380 YOSEMITE STREET, THORNTON, CO 80602 · (303) 655-6800 · Adams County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,784 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
21.7:1
82 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.6:1 · STATE 16.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
39%
700 students
DISTRICT 51% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 467 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 468 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 450 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 399 | 22% |
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · 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
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CO schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
14.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.9%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-28.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 14% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 43% typical for Colorado schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Riverdale Ridge High School
Riverdale Ridge High School's state test result (14.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverdale Ridge High School this school | 1,784 | 39.2% | 14.1% |
| Lakewood High School LAKEWOOD | 1,735 | 36.8% | 35.5% |
| Horizon High School BRIGHTON | 1,966 | 33.1% | 32.3% |
| Bear Creek High School LAKEWOOD | 1,344 | 48.7% | 31.0% |
| Standley Lake High School WESTMINSTER | 1,123 | 32.7% | 30.4% |
| Vista Ridge High School COLORADO SPRINGS | 1,473 | 37.9% | 33.9% |
Matched among Colorado high 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 Riverdale Ridge High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In Adams County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.1% | #190 of 231 | #10 of 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,784 | #36 of 409 | #6 of 29 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.7:1 | #222 of 250 | #17 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 61.6% | #29 of 250 | #1 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.2% | #200 of 320 | #23 of 26 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,784
+589 (+49%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
21.7:1
was 21.0:1
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 | 1,784 | 82.2 | 21.7:1 | 39% (700) |
| 2023-24 | 1,636 | 77.7 | 21.1:1 | 39% (645) |
| 2022-23 | 1,463 | 60.4 | 24.2:1 | 28% (406) |
| 2020-21 | 1,195 | 57 | 21.0:1 | 23% (274) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Riverdale Ridge High School.
About Riverdale Ridge High School
Families in THORNTON, Colorado, are served by Riverdale Ridge High School, a large high school. It reports enrollment of 1,784 students in grades 9 through 12. On average, high schools in Colorado enroll around 627, and this school is 185% bigger than that mark.
School District 27J is responsible for 33 schools, Riverdale Ridge High School included, with 24,044 students in all.
At Riverdale Ridge High School, Hispanic students make up the biggest share, 45%. Enrollment also includes 42% White, 6% Asian, and 5% multiracial. Adams County residents are about 43% Hispanic, a similar share. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 62, compared with 70 nationally.
Riverdale Ridge High School lists 82.2 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 21.7 students per teacher. Across high schools in Colorado, the average ratio is 16.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 39% of the student body. The average for public schools in Adams County is 62%.
Compared with Colorado schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Riverdale Ridge High School scores 28.9 points lower than predicted. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 14.1%; the prediction is 42.9%.
Adams County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $94,571 a year, roughly 29% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Riverdale Ridge High School shares Adams County with 170 other public schools.
Among nearby public schools, Rodger Quist Middle School is closest at about 0.2 miles. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Riverdale Ridge High School places 8th of 8 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Federal data place Riverdale Ridge High School 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.
Riverdale Ridge High School enrolled 1,195 in 2020-21 and 1,784 in 2024-25. Changes in grade configuration can produce shifts of this size.
This page is set up for the Riverdale Ridge High School community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Adams County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
530,225
Census ACS
Median income
$94,571
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
171
87,938 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in School District 27J
- Colorado Connections @ 27JCombined · 2,042 students
- Prairie View High SchoolHigh · 1,809 students
- Brighton High SchoolHigh · 1,733 students
- Bromley East Charter SchoolElementary · 1,214 students
- Rodger Quist Middle SchoolMiddle · 855 students
- Otho E Stuart Middle SchoolMiddle · 794 students
Other schools in THORNTON
- Stargate Charter SchoolCombined · 1,572 students
- Thornton High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- Rocky Top Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,052 students
- Rodger Quist Middle SchoolMiddle · 855 students
- York InternationalCombined · 776 students
- Thornton Middle SchoolMiddle · 721 students
Nearby schools
- Rodger Quist Middle School0.2 mi · 855
- Brantner Elementary School0.8 mi · 574
- West Ridge Elementary1.6 mi · 690
- Bright Horizons Preschool2.3 mi · 36
- Horizon High School2.3 mi · 1,966
- Henderson Elementary School2.3 mi · 357
Frequently asked questions
About Riverdale Ridge High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Riverdale Ridge High School?
Riverdale Ridge High School enrolls approximately 1,784 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Riverdale Ridge High School serve?
Riverdale Ridge High School serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Riverdale Ridge High School?
Approximately 21.7:1 students per teacher at Riverdale Ridge High School.
How diverse is Riverdale Ridge High School?
Riverdale Ridge High School reports a student body of 42% White, 45% Hispanic, 2% Black, 6% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Riverdale Ridge High School in?
Riverdale Ridge High School is part of School District 27J.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.