The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Doull Elementary School
Doull Elementary is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Denver, part of the Denver Public Schools system. It sits within the city’s Westwood neighborhood, a residential area in southwest Denver. The school is not a charter and does not have a magnet designation.
The student body is large for an elementary school and predominantly Hispanic, with small shares of white, Asian, and multiracial students, and very small numbers of Black and American Indian students. A substantial share of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a high-poverty context. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available in the current record.
On state assessments, the school’s proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science show a clear soft spot. When compared to other districts in Denver County, Doull Elementary’s overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile. In math, roughly three in ten students met proficiency criteria; in ELA, slightly more than three in ten met the bar. Science proficiency was lower. Participation rates were adequate for ELA and science but notably lower for math, a gap a parent may want to ask the school about. No multi-year trend data is available, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving or declining.
Because Doull serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the record does not include chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, or course access data. That leaves several dimensions of school environment uncharacterized here.
Denver is a major consolidated city-county and state capital with a diverse economy spanning telecommunications, aerospace, software, health care, and tourism. Its downtown core houses cultural institutions, government offices, and corporate headquarters. The city has grown steadily, with a ring of suburban communities forming a nearly continuous built-up corridor along the Front Range. Housing in the school’s zip code has seen a recent decline in both home values and rents, reflecting broader national mortgage rate movements. The typical monthly housing cost is a substantial share of area income.
Denver Public Schools has undergone several recent changes that affect families with children at Doull. Voters approved a large bond measure in 2024 for facility improvements, safety upgrades, technology, and new school construction across the district. A district-wide literacy curriculum shift began in the 2023-2024 school year, adopting evidence-based reading instruction in elementary grades. A new unified enrollment system launched for the 2024-2025 school year, consolidating how families apply to and select schools. A mill levy override passed in 2022 to increase teacher pay and expand mental health services. These changes mean that the district’s approach to reading instruction, school choice, and school funding have all shifted in recent years, and families considering Doull may want to understand how these initiatives are playing out at the school level.
For a family evaluating Doull Elementary, the picture is mixed. The school serves a high-poverty, predominantly Hispanic student body in a large urban district that has made recent investments in literacy and facilities. Academic proficiency is low relative to other Denver County districts, and the available data leaves several key areas unexamined. A deeper conversation with the school about its specific instructional supports, community engagement, and how it is implementing the district’s literacy and enrollment changes would be worthwhile.
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