The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 28% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Holm Elementary School
Holm Elementary School serves students from preschool through fifth grade in the Virginia Village neighborhood of southeast Denver. It is a regular public school within Denver Public Schools, the large urban district that covers the city and county of Denver. The school is not a charter school.
Holm Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school by enrollment for its grade band. The student body is diverse, with a majority of students identifying as Hispanic, roughly a quarter as white, and smaller shares as Black, Asian, multiracial, and other groups. The school serves a population with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, placing it in a higher-need category among Denver elementary schools.
On the Colorado Measures of Academic Success state assessments, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects places it above the midpoint among elementary schools in Denver County, according to available district-level comparisons. In English language arts, a moderate share of students met or exceeded the state’s proficiency standard. In mathematics, the proficiency rate was lower, with roughly a third of students reaching that level. Science results, tested only in fifth grade, were lower than the math and English results. These are the most recent available test outcomes, and they give a mixed picture: the school performs at a level that is competitive within the county for reading, while math and science show more room for growth. A parent may want to ask the school how it is addressing math and science achievement.
The school’s participation rates on the assessments were high, meaning the results reflect nearly all enrolled students in the tested grades.
There is no data available on chronic absenteeism, disciplinary actions, staffing ratios, or course access, so it is not possible to describe the school’s climate or resources from those angles. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was also not reported, limiting the view of how the school serves those populations.
Denver as a whole is a large, economically diverse city that functions as the commercial and cultural hub of the Rocky Mountain region. Holm Elementary sits within a residential neighborhood of single-family homes and apartments. Housing values in the school’s ZIP code have softened in the recent period, following a national trend of modest decline, and the area has seen a slight downward shift in rents. The local housing market remains expensive relative to the national average, but cheaper than the Denver metro area peak. The neighborhood is well-served by Denver’s parks and recreational amenities, and the school is within reasonable distance of downtown and the city’s major cultural and employment centers.
Denver Public Schools has undergone several recent district-wide changes that affect Holm Elementary. Voters approved a substantial bond measure in 2024, the largest in district history, for facility improvements, safety upgrades, and new construction. The district also implemented a new literacy curriculum across elementary grades beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, shifting to evidence-based reading instruction. A unified enrollment system was launched for the 2024-2025 school year, changing how families apply to and select schools. A mill levy override passed in 2022 increased teacher pay and expanded mental health services. These district-level shifts mean that Holm Elementary may look somewhat different in practice than it did a few years ago, particularly in how reading is taught and how families navigate school choice.
For a family considering Holm Elementary, the school offers a diverse, mid-size elementary setting in a stable Denver neighborhood, with English language arts results that are above the typical
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