The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in English language arts. The lowest is 22% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Columbia Elementary School
Columbia Elementary School serves students from preschool through fifth grade in central Colorado Springs, part of the Colorado Springs School District No. 11. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for an elementary building serving that grade span. The student body is diverse, with a white plurality and substantial shares of Hispanic students and Black students, along with smaller numbers of students who identify as two or more races. Just over a quarter of the school's population is white, while about a third is Hispanic and roughly one in ten is Black. A large majority of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. The school’s special education and English learner populations are not reported in the available data, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the supports it offers for those groups.
Academic performance on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success shows a mixed picture. In both math and English language arts, the share of students scoring at proficient or above falls well below the majority mark. Science results from fifth grade follow a similar pattern. However, when compared with other districts across El Paso County, Columbia Elementary’s combined proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the sixteen districts that reported data. That means that while absolute scores are low, the school is performing better than the typical elementary in this part of the county. A parent reviewing these numbers will want to understand what the school is doing to raise achievement and whether the trajectory is improving from prior years; multi-year trend data was not available here.
The school sits inside a large, sprawling city whose economy is dominated by military installations and defense contractors, aerospace firms, and tourism. The surrounding district recently raised starting teacher salaries and cut the number of schools on state improvement orders by nearly half, both signs of investment in school quality. District 11 also created a scholarship that lets high school students take college courses at no cost through Pikes Peak State College, a program that could benefit Columbia’s students down the road. Housing values in the area are roughly in line with the state as a whole, though they have dipped slightly in the past year; rents are moderate for a metro area of this size.
Columbia Elementary is a neighborhood school in a high-poverty part of a growing city. Its academic results are below the state average but hold an above-middling position within El Paso County. Families who enroll will find a diverse student body and a district that has taken concrete steps to improve teacher pay and expand college access. The school itself offers no unusual programs flagged in the available data, so the experience will likely center on the standard elementary curriculum with whatever supports the building provides. Given the lack of data on discipline, staffing, and attendance, a parent considering this school should visit and ask about class sizes, student support services, and how the school addresses the gaps shown in its test scores.
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