Aurora Quest K-8 principal Kelsey Haddock tells anyone who will listen that her school has some of the best teachers in the country.
The data backs her up.
Aurora Quest K-8 was recently named a Bright Spots Top School, an award that recognizes schools across the country who are beating the odds in literacy education.
The Bright Spots Project is a data-journalism undertaking of The 74, a nonprofit newsroom that covers education. It highlights schools where students are thriving and specifically, where third-grade literacy scores are outpacing expectations.
Aurora Quest ranked second in the entire state of Colorado with a mark of 84.60% proficiency in literacy scores for their third graders.
“A lot of things go into achieving something like this,” Haddock said. “We have veteran teachers who have a deep understanding of their grade-level content standards. They know what it looks like, what kids are coming to them with and where they have to get kids to.”
Haddock pointed out that one of the coolest things about the Bright Spots award is that it highlights schools who are helping break the cycle of kids at or below the poverty line underperforming. It's what makes the recognition that much more special—beating the odds and delivering above expectations.
“For us, the celebration is in being recognized that we’re giving our kids opportunities,” Haddock said. “We’re making sure that as many opportunities are open to them as available so that when they get to a place where they can make choices, they can make choices about their postsecondary options, their career pathways that make the most sense for them.”
The accolades don’t stop with just literacy.
On the 2026 Colorado Measures of Academic Success tests (CMAS), Aurora Quest K-8 was the top-scoring school in all of Colorado in math.
Students in third through eighth grade take the CMAS tests annually. Possible scores range from 650 to 850, with students considered to have met expectations for their grade level at 750 or higher.
Quest’s score? A cool 790.
For Haddock, those results are a reflection not only of academic instruction, but of the relationships teachers build with their students every day.
“What people need to know about Aurora Quest is that teachers work incredibly hard here and they care deeply about the kids,” Haddock said. “We recognize that relationships have to be at the forefront of helping kids achieve more, and that’s what we do. I think we have some of the best teachers in the country here, and that reflects in the data.”