Achievement is tantamount to educators. Middle school is a time of transition, when students develop faster than any other time in their lives. Middle school achievement tends to fall after elementary school, but this is often the first time students have had access to exploratory content outside of the core curriculum. This study of Colorado middle schools and accountability reports from the school year 2003-2004 attempts to identify and examine factors that affect student achievement as defined by the school s score on the Colorado Department of Education School Accountability Report, including exploratory courses offered, daily attendance rate, enrollment stability rate, discipline incidents reported, and free and reduced lunch rate. While exploratory course information does not add predictability to the model of achievement, slight correlations with achievement were noted, and larger correlations between other factors and achievement were seen.