The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in Math. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on King Elementary School
King Elementary School is a regular public elementary school in Colorado Springs, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Colorado Springs School District No. 11. The school’s enrollment is substantial for an elementary building. A majority of the students identify as white, with a sizeable Hispanic population and a smaller share of Black students and students of two or more races. Asian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students each make up a very small portion of the student body. More than half of the students come from households with incomes low enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that places the school in a moderate-to-high range for economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the dataset.
On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, King Elementary’s results present a mixed picture. In math, a solid majority of students in grades three through five scored at the proficient level or above, a mark that positioned the school well above the median among elementary and K-8 schools in El Paso County. In English language arts, proficiency was lower, with fewer than half of students meeting the same bar. On the fifth-grade science assessment, the share of students reaching proficiency was lower still. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the literacy and science instruction programs are structured and where supports are focused.
King Elementary is not a charter school, and it is a regular school within the district, not a magnet or alternative program. The school’s state testing participation rates were high, above the threshold typically used for accountability, so the results reflect the experience of nearly all enrolled students.
The surrounding community of Colorado Springs is a large, sprawling city where the military is the dominant economic force. Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever space force bases, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, and the U.S. Air Force Academy together anchor a regional economy that also includes a major aerospace and defense contracting sector, a tourism industry built around Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee headquarters. The city has grown substantially over the past two decades and continues to expand. Housing in the school’s zip code reflects this growth, with home values near the national median and rents that put home ownership out of reach for many renter households based on a typical mortgage-versus-rent comparison. The city’s built environment is heavily car-dependent, with residential neighborhoods spread across a broad plateau and commercial corridors lining major arterials.
At the district level, Colorado Springs School District No. 11 has recently made changes that directly affect families with elementary-age children. The district raised starting teacher pay and increased salaries across the board, a move publicly reported as aimed at improving teacher recruitment and retention. It also reduced the number of its schools on state-identified improvement plans, cutting the count substantially. A partnership with Pikes Peak State College created the D11 Promise Scholarship, which gives high school students free college courses; that program does not directly affect elementary students but signals a district commitment to postsecondary pathways.
For a family considering King Elementary, the school offers a math program that is a relative strength compared with other elementary schools in the county, while literacy and science scores are areas to explore further. The student body is economically diverse in a meaningful way, and the school sits within a district that has made recent, visible investments in teacher pay and school improvement. The surrounding city is large and growing, with a strong military and aerospace employment base and a housing market that is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks. The school does not have a magnet or charter designation, so it draws from its neighborhood attendance area.
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