The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Elementary School
Roosevelt Elementary School is a small regular public school serving prekindergarten through sixth grade in west Dayton. The school enrolls students across all eight grade bands, with the largest enrollment in first grade and relatively even distribution across the remaining grades. The student body is predominantly Black, with very small numbers of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students, and a single American Indian/Alaska Native student. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education enrollment, and English learner population were not available.
State testing results from the most recent year show proficiency rates that fall well below state and district benchmarks. In English language arts, proficiency stood at just over a quarter of students tested. Math proficiency was lower still, at under a quarter. In science, where testing applies only to a subset of students in the upper grades, proficiency was very low. The school's overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to the 43 districts serving Montgomery County. When compared against schools across the same county universe, Roosevelt's proficiency performance is substantially below the county median. Reading proficiency in the early grades is a particular area to understand further, especially as the Dayton Public Schools district has made a districtwide shift to the Amplify curriculum aligned with the science of reading, with all teachers required to complete that training. Third-grade proficiency districtwide rose between school years 2022-23 and 2023-24, but a parent may want to look into how that gain is taking shape at Roosevelt specifically.
The school sits in west Dayton, a historically working-class neighborhood. Housing in the 45417 zip code is modestly valued relative to state and national benchmarks, and rent is accessible; the area is car-dependent, though the city's downtown and walkable historic districts like the Oregon Historic District and South Park are nearby. Dayton's economy centers on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the region's dominant employer, with healthcare systems (Premier Health, Kettering Health Network) and the University of Dayton also major anchors. Downtown revitalization has been ongoing for more than two decades, with residential lofts, adaptive reuse, and mixed-use development continuing to draw investment, though suburban growth remains active in outlying areas like Huber Heights and Kettering.
For families considering this school, the academic challenge is plain: students are not meeting state or district proficiency benchmarks, and the gap is substantial. The district has committed to early literacy improvement and has overhauled curriculum and training in the early grades, a shift parents can track at the school level. The student body is tightly cohesive in composition. The setting is an urban neighborhood school, and transportation for high school students in the Dayton district is no longer provided by the district as of the 2025-26 school year, a change parents should account for if older siblings or future high schoolers are in the family picture.
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