5280 High School

DENVER · CO · School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C · Public charter

Public 🏛 School District No. 1 in the county of Denver and State of C →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

KIPP Denver Collegiate High School → Rocky Mountain Prep SMART → Florence Crittenton High School → Excel Academy → DSST: Cedar High School → Respect Academy → Abraham Lincoln High School → South High School →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Gifted & talented program

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 22% of US high schools
📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 36% by test-taker volume
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 30% (Bottom 6% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How 5280 High School compares for families

What families should know about 5280 High School.

▸ LocallyCO students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: KIPP Denver Collegiate High School, Rocky Mountain Prep SMART, Florence Crittenton High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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Get an email when 5280 High School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 36% by test-taker volume

SAT/ACT test-takers

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

34.9

takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Compared against

18,426

US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 6% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

30%

Range: 21–39%

4-year cohort size

Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years

Compared against

17,988

US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

35-39% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Targeted Assistance

37.6%

FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).

0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

35-39% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school can receive Title I funds targeted to identified students (not schoolwide).

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days

87.2%

Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.

Students absent 15+ days

Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 109 students:

2025

107

2027

104

2029

101

A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

School	Type	Miles	HS enrollment	Trend
KIPP Denver Collegiate High School DENVER	Public · charter	1.0	477	-2.3%
Rocky Mountain Prep SMART DENVER	Public · charter	1.4	604	+18.4%
Florence Crittenton High School DENVER	Public	1.5	107	+16.3%
Excel Academy DENVER	Public	1.5	227	-11.7%
DSST: Cedar High School DENVER	Public · charter	1.7	546	-2.0%
Respect Academy DENVER	Public	1.9	99	+6.5%
Abraham Lincoln High School DENVER	Public	1.9	965	-2.8%
South High School DENVER	Public	1.9	1,950	+10.1%