The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Summit Elementary School
Summit Elementary School is a regular public elementary school in Aurora, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Cherry Creek School District No. 5. The school sits in a sprawling, largely suburban city that is the third-largest in Colorado, covering a vast area across three counties. Aurora is predominantly car-dependent, with commercial hubs like Southlands providing centers of street life rather than a single walkable downtown. The city has a history of rapid growth, with continued development planned along the E-470 corridor near Denver International Airport and around the Anschutz Medical Campus, a major employment and institutional anchor. Buckley Space Force Base is the largest employer, and Cherry Creek Schools themselves are one of the city’s significant employers.
Summit Elementary’s student body draws from a surrounding community where home values and rents place it close to state-level housing costs. The area has seen a slight year-over-year decline in home prices and rents, though the typical mortgage payment remains substantially higher than the average rent, suggesting a market where buying requires significant income relative to renting.
The school enrolls a student population that is diverse. No single racial or ethnic group holds a majority. Hispanic students and white students each make up about a third of the enrollment, with Black students forming a solid share and a smaller but present combined share of students who are Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, or identify with two or more races. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a substantial share of families with lower household incomes.
On state assessments, Summit Elementary’s academic performance is mixed and sits in a specific context. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects, when measured against other schools in Arapahoe County districts, lands above the midpoint. Looking at the results directly, proficiency rates vary by subject and are below a majority threshold in each one. In English language arts, roughly three in ten students scored at the proficient or advanced level. In math, about one in four students did. In fifth-grade science, the rate was lower, with roughly one in seven students reaching proficiency. These are the most current state results available, and they give a picture of a school where, in core academic areas, a minority of students are meeting the state’s defined benchmarks.
Because Summit Elementary serves only through fifth grade, it does not produce a high school graduation rate or related outcomes. Some data points that are often part of a full school profile, such as chronic absenteeism rates, the share of students receiving special education services, and the share of English learners, were not available in the source data. A parent wanting to understand more about student support structures, discipline climate, or course access would need to get that directly from the school or district. The school is not a charter school and was not flagged as a Title I school in the data, though a majority of its students do qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a common criterion for that designation.
For a family considering Summit Elementary, the picture is one of a diverse, suburban school within a large and well-known district, where home values are in line with the broader state market and the city itself is large and spread out. The academic results on state tests show room for growth across all tested subjects, and a parent would want to engage with the school’s staff about current instruction and any targeted support or enrichment offerings that might not be captured in the summary data. The school’s position within Cherry Creek means that the student’s path beyond fifth grade will lead into that district’s middle and high schools, which can also be a factor in the overall decision about where to live and enroll.
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