The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in English language arts. The lowest is 41% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Peiffer Elementary School
Peiffer Elementary School is closed. The school served students in Jefferson County School District No. R-1, and its operational status is listed as closed, which means a parent looking at this school today is looking at a former attendance zone and a building that no longer operates as a public elementary school. No enrollment figures, student demographics, or program offerings are available for its final year of operation, and that absence follows directly from the school’s closure.
State testing data is available from the last year the school was open, the 2022-23 school year. On the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, Peiffer’s students scored at a level where roughly two out of every five students met the state’s proficiency bar in math, and a slightly larger share met it in English language arts. Science results, which are tested only at fifth grade, fell in a similar range. These are middle-of-the-road results. A family evaluating the school when it was operating would have found a school where a majority of students were not yet scoring at the proficient level, a pattern common across many elementary schools in the state and one that would have warranted a closer look at how the school supported students who were not yet meeting the benchmark.
The school was part of Jefferson County R-1, a large district that has been through substantial change in recent years. In the 2024 election cycle, voters approved a bond measure for capital improvements, safety upgrades, and technology investments—the first bond passed by Jeffco voters since the early 2000s. At the same time, the district reversed a plan to close sixteen schools after community backlash and instead formed a committee to study enrollment trends and potential consolidation. In that same election, three school board members were recalled and replaced, a shift driven by concerns about transparency and the handling of consolidation plans. For families living in the Peiffer attendance zone before its closure, this district-level turbulence would have added uncertainty about the school’s future. The closure itself is a direct outcome of the enrollment and budget pressures that have driven Jeffco’s consolidation conversation.
The school was located in Littleton, a Denver suburb that serves as the county seat of Arapahoe County. Littleton is a mix of historic downtown, suburban residential neighborhoods, and commercial corridors, fully integrated into the Denver metropolitan area. Its housing market is expensive relative to national benchmarks, with home values that have softened slightly in recent years. The community has a walkable downtown core with light rail access, a trail system along the South Platte River, and a set of civic anchors that include the Littleton Museum and Chatfield Reservoir. The city grew rapidly in the postwar decades and is now built out, with a strategic plan guiding infill and redevelopment. The school’s ZIP code, which covers a broad area that includes parts of the city and unincorporated territory, reflects that housing cost environment.
Because Peiffer is closed, the practical question for a current resident is less about the school itself and more about which elementary school now serves its former attendance area. The district’s ongoing consolidation and boundary review process means that the answer may change. For a family researching the history of the neighborhood, the testing data from the school’s final year gives a snapshot of academic performance in a typical Jeffco elementary school, but it does not tell you what the replacement school or any new attendance zone school will look like. That information would need to come directly from the district’s current school finder and from the receiving school’s own profile.
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