The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School is a regular public school in Denver serving prekindergarten through sixth grade. It sits within Denver Public Schools, the city’s unified school district. Families considering this school should understand it as a neighborhood elementary whose academic results stand out sharply against the district backdrop, set in a part of the city where housing costs are high and the student population is relatively affluent compared to the district average.
The school’s enrollment is comparatively small for a PK-6 building, and its demographic profile is distinct. A large majority of students are white, with a Hispanic share that is a modest portion of the population and very small numbers of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. Just over a fifth of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate far below the district average, which means the school serves a substantially more economically advantaged community than many Denver elementary schools. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source materials, so a family with a child in either group would want to ask the school directly about its services and staffing.
On state assessments, Lincoln’s performance is well above typical levels for Denver County schools as a whole. In math, a majority of tested students in grades three through eight scored proficient or above. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was even higher. Among the handful of districts in Denver County for which a proficiency index could be calculated, Lincoln placed in the top quartile. The most notable soft spot is in fifth-grade science, where just over a third of students reached the proficient bar. That is a lower result than the school’s math and reading outcomes, and a parent may want to discuss the middle-elementary science curriculum with the school.
The school stops at sixth grade, with only a tiny enrollment in that grade, so most students likely feed into a middle school elsewhere in the district. Because Lincoln does not serve high school grades, no graduation rate applies.
The surrounding neighborhood is in the core of the city. Denver is a major state capital and commercial center with a dense downtown core, a strong economy built around telecommunications, aerospace, software, health care, and finance, and a large university presence. The area around Lincoln Elementary is part of the city’s urban residential fabric rather than a separate suburb. Housing values in the ZIP code are very high, considerably above the state median home value, and well above the national figure. Rents are also elevated. The combination of high home prices and a low poverty rate at the school reinforces that this is a high-cost, high-demand part of the city. For a family considering a move to the neighborhood explicitly for the school, the affordability gap is large.
Denver Public Schools has made several recent district-wide changes that affect Lincoln. Voters approved a substantial bond measure for facility improvements, safety upgrades, and new construction. A mill levy override passed in a prior election to raise teacher pay and expand mental health resources. The district has also shifted to a unified enrollment system for school choice and adopted a new literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading in elementary grades. These are district-level policies; a parent may want to confirm how they have been implemented at Lincoln specifically.
The school’s academic record is its clearest strength, with proficiency rates that place it among the stronger options within Denver County. For families who can manage the high housing costs of the immediate neighborhood, the combination of a strong academic profile and a small, economically homogeneous student body is the core of what Lincoln offers. The main gaps in the available data are around special education and English learner support, so a family with needs in those areas should inquire directly. The lower science results are worth a conversation, but they do not undercut the overall picture of a school that performs well in the core subjects.
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