The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 14%.
Original Research by School Decision on Academy 360
Academy 360 is a small, charter elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in northeast Denver. It is part of Denver Public Schools. The school’s enrollment is small for an elementary school serving these grades, and its student body is diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The largest group of students is Hispanic, followed by Black students and then a smaller share of white students, with the remainder comprising students of two or more races and small numbers of Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. Data on the share of students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the profile.
The school sits within a major and growing city. Denver is a state capital and a commercial, industrial, and transportation hub for the Rocky Mountain region. The economy spans telecommunications, aerospace, software, financial services, health care, and manufacturing. Eight Fortune [a figure] firms are headquartered here, and Denver International Airport is a major employer. This is a city with a dense downtown core, extensive residential neighborhoods, and a large university presence. Housing values in the area are slightly above the national average, and rents have been rising. The zip code directly serving the school has seen a modest year-over-year decline in home values, while rents have increased. Buying a home in this market is significantly more expensive than renting on a monthly basis, reflecting elevated mortgage costs relative to local incomes.
In November 2024, Denver voters approved the largest bond measure in district history to fund facility improvements, safety upgrades, technology, and new school construction. Denver Public Schools has also transitioned to a district-wide literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading for elementary grades and moved to a unified enrollment system for school choice. Additionally, a mill levy override approved in 2022 increased teacher pay and expanded mental health services across the district.
Academy 360’s state assessment results present a mixed picture. In English language arts, the proficiency rate for all students was low, and this rate places the school in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades relative to other districts in Denver County. The school’s proficiency in math was suppressed from public reporting, and a small number of students were tested in science, so no reliable proficiency rate is available for that subject. Student participation in testing was high in all three subjects. A parent should note that the school’s small tested cohort in each grade means that proficiency results can fluctuate considerably from year to year. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.
Because this is a charter school, it operates with a degree of autonomy from the district but remains accountable to Denver Public Schools for performance. No program offerings, discipline data, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism rates were available in the profile, so those dimensions of the school’s environment are not part of this account.
Academy 360 fits a family looking for a small elementary school in a large urban district, with a diverse student population and a high share of students from low-income households. The academic results are a soft spot, especially in English language arts, and a parent should investigate what supports and interventions the school provides in literacy and math before enrolling. The district’s adoption of a science-of-reading curriculum may eventually affect instruction here, but the outcomes reported are from data collected after that curriculum was implemented, so it is worth asking the school how that rollout has gone. The school is located in a dynamic city with a strong job market and a rising cost of living, and it operates within a district that has committed significant new funding to facilities and teacher compensation in recent years.
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