Flagstaff Academy has been recognized as a 2025 Colorado Trailblazer Schools to Watch by the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education. Flagstaff Academy is one of 100+ schools to be recognized nationwide at the National Schools to Watch Conference in June 2025 in Washington, DC.
Selection is based on a written application that requires schools to show how they met the criteria developed by the Forum. State teams organized by the Colorado Schools to Watch program conduct site visits in order to affirm that they have indeed met the rigorous requirements of the award. These teams observe classrooms, interview administrators, teachers, and parents, review achievement data, suspension rates, instructional quality, and student work. Schools are recognized for a three-year period, and at the end of three years must repeat the process in order to be re-designated. This year five schools were designated as Colorado Schools to Watch: Altona Middle School, Brentwood Middle School, Flagstaff Academy, Mountain Vista Community School, and Preston Middle School.
Launched in 1999, Schools to Watch began as a national program to identify middle-grades schools across the country that were meeting or exceeding 37 criteria developed by the Forum. The Forum developed a website
that features online tours of schools, as well as detailed information about the selection criteria used in the recognition program. Twenty states are currently involved in the program and the addition of these schools raises the total number of Schools to Watch to over 425 nationwide.
The National Forum sponsors the Schools to Watch state program in states with the support of members, the National Association for Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Association of Middle Level Education, Learning Forward, and the State Schools to Watch programs.
The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform is an alliance of educators, researchers, national
associations, and officers of professional organizations and foundations dedicated to improving education in the middle grades.