North is Colorado Springs School District 11's International Baccalaureate (IB) middle school. All North students learn international mindedness, personal responsibility, and academic integrity through the IB Middle Years Programme model. We offer an honors program with advanced classes that provide challenges and stimulation, a Gifted and Talented Academy (GTA) that boasts the highest or nearly highest math scores in math, and a targets Social Emotional Learning curriculum targeted to specific …
cohorts of students. At North, we hold our students to high standards, so they set goals, think for themselves, problem solve, and take agency in their own learning--empowering them to be productive and successful citizens. North was founded in 1924 and is located in the center of Colorado Springs in the Old North End community. North is comprised of a diverse student body, both ethnically and socioeconomically, which lends itself to our pride in students being empathetic learners and open-minded scholars. North's leadership team has been intact for years, with the principal, Stephanie Leasure, as the newest addition beginning her fourth year in the 2025-2026 school year. According to the Colorado Department of Education, North is accredited as a Performance School. North is the second highest performing middle school in Colorado Springs School District 11, and in the 2024 - 2025 school year, earned its highest SPF rating in recent years with 69.4% of the points earned. We also achieved our highest scale scores in recent history, earning Meets in English, Math and Science, and Meets overall in ELA and math growth. Since pre-COVID, North is also at its highest enrollment, landing above projection at 658 students in the fall of 2025. North currently has a CDE-approved Innovation Plan in place for the next two school years. Tenants of the Innovation Plan include a reduced student to teacher staffing ratio, provision for an extended school day from 7:30am - 4:30pm, community assistance through a limited food pantry and laundry facilities, and flexibility in choice of school professional development. Along with the Innovation Plan, North offers a wide variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular clubs and activities. Outside of the full complement of interscholastic sports, we offer co-curricular activities like Drama Club, Art Club, and National Junior Honor Society. As part of our extra-curricular clubs, we offer student interest clubs like Kids on Bikes, Climbing Club, Pride Club, Prayer Club, and even DJ Club. This fall, over half our student body is involved in either interscholastic sports or some sort of club or activity.
Accredited with Distinction - This is assigned to the highest performing districts. These districts are meeting or exceeding expectations on the majority of performance tasks.
Accredited - Districts with an overall rating of Accredited are meeting expectations on the majority of performance metrics.
Accredited with Improvement Plan - These districts are identified as lower performing. They may be meeting expectations on some performance metrics, but they are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on many.
Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan - These districts are identified as low performing. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these districts until they improve.
Accredited with Turnaround Plan - These districts are identified as among the lowest performing districts in the state. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these districts until they improve.
Accredited with Insufficient State Data - These districts are assigned this accreditation rating when the state does not have enough data to report publicly. To better understand why a district received an Insufficient State Data rating, all publicly reportable data are reflected in the performance framework report. More information about these ratings is available here.
School Ratings
Performance Plan - Schools with a Performance Plan are meeting expectations on the majority of performance metrics.
Improvement Plan - These schools are identified as lower performing. They may be meeting expectations on some performance metrics, but they are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on many.
Priority Improvement Plan - These schools are identified as low performing. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.
Turnaround Plan - These schools are identified as among the lowest performing schools in the state. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.
Insufficient State Data - These schools are assigned this plan type when the state does not have enough data to report publicly. To better understand why a school received an Insufficient State Data rating, all publicly reportable data are reflected in the performance framework report. More information about these ratings is available here.