The top reported proficiency rate is 82% in Math. The lowest is 66% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on William (bill) Roberts Ece-8 School
William (Bill) Roberts ECE-8 School is a regular public school in Denver that serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits within the Denver Public Schools district, a large urban system that recently saw voters approve a record bond measure for facility improvements and a mill levy override to boost teacher pay and mental health services. The district has also shifted to a new unified enrollment system for school choice and adopted a science-of-reading literacy curriculum in the elementary grades, changes that families navigating this school will want to understand.
The school is located in the Denver neighborhood that shares its zip code, where housing values and rents are elevated relative to state and national benchmarks. Home values in the area have softened somewhat in the past year, and rents have also eased, though the cost of entry remains high. An estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home would substantially exceed the average rent, making renting the cheaper option for now. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is modest, consistent with a school serving an economically advantaged population.
On state assessments, Roberts posted strong results in the most recent testing year. Proficiency in math and English language arts for grades three through eight was well above the midpoint among the schools in Denver County that had comparable data. Science results were also solid, with fifth graders scoring at a high level and eighth graders at a somewhat lower level, though the participation rate for the eighth-grade science test was notably lower than for other tested grades, a detail a parent may want to ask the school about.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population that is the next largest group, followed by students who identify as two or more races, Black students, Asian students, and a very small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students. Enrollment is substantial for an elementary-through-middle-school building, with nearly every grade level from kindergarten through fifth grade holding a sizable cohort and the middle school grades slightly smaller but still well-populated. This is a school where a child could remain in a familiar setting from the early years through the end of middle school.
No data on special education identification rates or English learner status was available in the records reviewed. Similarly, information on discipline, chronic absenteeism, and course access was not included, so a family considering the school would want to ask directly about those areas. The school is not a charter and did not have a Title I designation in the data, which aligns with its low share of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.
The neighborhood that feeds into Roberts is part of a larger Denver that functions as a major commercial and transportation hub for the Rocky Mountain region, with a downtown core of government offices, corporate headquarters, and cultural institutions. The city’s economy spans telecommunications, aviation, health care, and tourism, with a large airport and several Fortune-headquartered firms. The area around the school is residential and lies within a city that has seen sustained population growth over recent decades, spreading into the foothills and across the high plains.
For a family looking at this school, the picture is one of a consistently high-performing academic environment in an expensive urban neighborhood, serving a student population that is predominantly white and economically comfortable. The school’s strength on state tests is clear, and the fact that it covers both elementary and middle grades means students can stay in one community of peers and teachers for a long stretch. The main gaps in information relate to special populations and student support metrics, which are areas worth investigating further with the school or district. The recent district-level changes to enrollment and literacy instruction will factor into any family’s planning, particularly if they are new to Denver Public Schools.
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