Original Research by School Decision on Englewood High School
Englewood High School serves grades nine through twelve as the comprehensive public high school for the Englewood School District in Arapahoe County. The school has an enrollment that reflects the demographics of the city it draws from. The student body is predominantly Hispanic and white, with smaller shares of Black students and students who identify as two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this school in a context where economic need is a defining characteristic of the student population.
The school sits in Englewood, a city with distinct quadrants shaped by different eras and uses. The northwest quadrant holds the historic downtown and the oldest housing stock. The northeast is dominated by a major hospital complex that anchors the local economy. The southwest has industrial facilities alongside newer homes. Hampden Hills, the newest and wealthiest part of the city, features a high concentration of apartment complexes. The city has a walkable core at CityCenter Englewood, a transit-oriented redevelopment of a former mall site that integrates the public library, city government, and an RTD light rail station. A free trolley connects the station to downtown, the medical district, and the civic center. The South Platte River trail system provides off-street recreational paths. The city’s top employers are dominated by healthcare, led by Swedish Medical Center and Craig Hospital.
For a family considering this high school, the most significant gap is the absence of state testing data, the four-year graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism data. Because the profile for this school does not contain these figures, the comparison to other districts in Arapahoe County could not be made on proficiency, graduation, or attendance. A parent should look into this further with the school or the district to understand how students perform on state assessments and what share of students graduate on time. Without these metrics, academic achievement at Englewood High School cannot be characterized from the available data.
The district has undergone several changes that affect the high school experience. Starting in the 2022-2023 school year, middle and high schools within the district moved to standards-based grading, which measures student progress against specific learning standards rather than traditional letter grades. This is a lasting shift in how student performance is assessed and reported to families. Also beginning in that school year, the district introduced limited in-district school choice, so families are no longer assigned a school purely by geography and may select among district schools. Voters approved Measure 4D in November 2021, authorizing a bond program for school improvements including safety upgrades, roof repairs, and HVAC improvements, along with a smaller mill levy override for operations and maintenance. In 2024, the Board of Education approved a resolution to place another measure on the November 2024 ballot asking for additional mill levy and bond funding.
Housing in the area around the school reflects a broader market. Home values in the immediate zip code have declined somewhat over the past year, while rents have also ticked down slightly. The national 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been moderately higher than a year ago. For a family moving into the attendance area, these conditions suggest a market that has cooled from recent peaks, though housing costs remain elevated relative to the national median.
Englewood High School is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. It is the only traditional high school within its district, which also includes Colorado’s Finest High School of Choice, an alternative campus. The school's grade band, size, and student composition make it a typical urban-suburban high school serving a community with a strong medical employment base and a mix of older and newer residential neighborhoods. The absence of core academic data means that any judgment about the quality of instruction or student outcomes at this school must await direct inquiry or the release of that information.
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