The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in English language arts. The lowest is 18% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dalton Elementary School
Dalton Elementary School sits within the Aurora Joint District No. 28, a large city school system covering wide stretches of Colorado’s third-largest city. The school draws from a heavily suburban part of Aurora, a city built out of hundreds of subdivisions and master-planned communities rather than a single traditional downtown. Most travel in this corner of Aurora requires a car, though light rail and bus lines do serve the area. The school itself is a regular public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is not a charter school, and there is no public data on whether it holds a magnet designation or Title I status.
The student body is diverse. More than two in five students identify as Hispanic, roughly one in five as white, and a similar share as Black. Students who are Asian or identify with two or more races each make up about another tenth of the population, and small numbers of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and American Indian or Alaska Native students are also enrolled. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the share of students in special education or designated as English learners was not available, a gap that likely reflects the school’s reporting rather than the population itself; a parent may want to ask the school directly about these supports.
State test data covers math and English language arts for grades three through five and science for fifth grade only. On the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, the share of students scoring at or above proficiency in math was modest, and the share in English language arts was a bit higher but still well below the level many families hope to see. Science proficiency was lower than both. When placed alongside other elementary schools in districts across Arapahoe County, Dalton’s overall proficiency index, which averages the rates across tested subjects and grades, falls above the midpoint of the cohort. That relative position provides some context, but the absolute rates are soft enough that a parent would want to understand what academic supports and intervention programs are in place. The school’s testing participation rates were strong, above nine in ten for math and English language arts and above eight in ten for science, which means the reported results reflect nearly all enrolled students.
No multi-year trend data was available for this school, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining. No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access was reported, either. Those are common gaps for an elementary school that does not serve high school grades, but they leave unanswered questions about school climate and day-to-day operations.
The district that runs Dalton Elementary has recently made two significant moves that affect families. In late 2022, voters approved a bond measure to fund facility improvements, safety upgrades, and school modernization across Aurora Public Schools. That money will shape the physical learning environment at Dalton and other schools for years to come. The district has also undertaken a school consolidation and repurposing process, closing or repurposing underutilized buildings, which can shift attendance boundaries and feeder patterns. A parent should confirm whether Dalton’s attendance zone or the middle school it feeds into have been affected.
The wider Aurora housing market sets a certain economic context. Median home values in the area sit around a level that is modestly below the statewide benchmark but well above the national median, while rents have risen slightly over the past year. A typical mortgage payment in this zone would run higher than the typical rent, and both cost roughly a third of the national median household income. That combination makes the neighborhood a stretch for many families, though the school’s high rate of economic need suggests many households are managing on less.
Dalton Elementary is a diverse, economically mixed school with proficiency numbers that are soft in absolute terms but slightly above the middle among Arapahoe County elementary schools. A family considering this school will want to ask about special education and English learner supports, current programming and interventions, and how the district’s consolidation plans might affect their child’s pathway. The school’s strong participation rate in state testing suggests a culture where most students take the assessments, but the results themselves leave room for a deeper conversation about academic expectations.
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