The top reported proficiency rate is 12% in Science. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bea Underwood Elementary School
Bea Underwood Elementary School serves grades two through five in Parachute, a small, mainly residential town set where the Colorado River meets Parachute Creek, with I-70 running through it and outdoor recreation like fishing and hiking framing much of the local identity. The school is part of Garfield County School District 16, and the three schools in town—Underwood, Grand Valley Middle School, and Grand Valley High School—sit within or adjacent to the town’s compact footprint.
State testing results are available for math, English language arts, and science. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint relative to other districts in Garfield County. In math and ELA, the share of students scoring at the proficient level is a small fraction of those tested; science results follow a similar pattern. Participation rates on the assessments were high, but the performance levels themselves are a soft spot that a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand what instructional supports and interventions are in place.
The school’s enrollment is in the mid-hundreds for an elementary serving four grade levels. The student body is predominantly white and Hispanic, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the percentage of students with individualized education programs or English learner classifications was not reported in the available data; that information is often available directly from the school or district for families who want a fuller picture of special populations and supports.
No civil rights data, discipline figures, or staffing ratios were included in the profile, and chronic absenteeism rates were not reported for this school, so those dimensions of school environment and student engagement are not part of this account.
The district context matters for understanding the school’s operating conditions. Grand Valley School District 16 has faced significant financial strain. Voters defeated two ballot measures that would have generated additional revenue for teacher recruitment, retention, extracurriculars, and programming. The district has been deficit spending for a span of years, drawing down its fund balance and reducing its workforce through attrition. During the 2021–2022 school year, the middle school shifted to remote learning for a period due to severe staffing shortages. The district has since adopted a Unified Improvement Plan that prioritizes early literacy, math acceleration, targeted interventions for changing demographics, teacher development, and attendance improvement. That plan represents a strategic response to the budget constraints and staffing challenges that affect all three schools in the district, including Bea Underwood.
Parachute itself is classified as rural and has seen population growth in earlier years, though more recent estimates suggest a decline. Housing values in the area are moderate compared to state benchmarks. The town’s outdoor recreation identity and its location along a major interstate are its most visible characteristics; no major employers or detailed downtown street life were identified in publicly available sources. The school buildings are located within the town, not on separated campuses.
For a family considering Bea Underwood Elementary, the academic proficiency numbers are a clear point to investigate further. The school serves a community with notable economic need and a district that has been working through budget reductions and staffing shortages. The district’s improvement plan signals a focus on literacy and math, but the results so far indicate that raising achievement is an ongoing challenge. This school fits a family who values a small-town, rural setting and wants to engage closely with the school and district on academic support and programming, aware that the baseline test scores are well below the county average.
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