Dakota Valley Elementary School

Dakota Valley Elementary School is a big elementary-level community in AURORA, Colorado, overseen by Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah. The school educates 571 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 51% larger than the state mean of about 379.

Within Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah, which oversees 70 schools and 52,099 students, Dakota Valley Elementary School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Dakota Valley Elementary School logs that the largest single group is White at 45%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 23% Hispanic, 15% Black, 10% multiracial, 7% Asian. By comparison, Arapahoe County as a whole is about 59% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 16.6:1 average. Roughly 39% of students at Dakota Valley Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Arapahoe County runs at roughly 50%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Dakota Valley Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 42.8%; this one delivers 39.6%.

In the broader community, Arapahoe County reports that median household income runs about $101,087, about 47% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Dakota Valley Elementary School is one of 176 public schools in Arapahoe County (combined enrollment of about 115,502 students).

Nearest neighbor: Sunrise Elementary School, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Dakota Valley Elementary School comes 5th of 9 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 32.5%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Dakota Valley Elementary School's enrollment has stayed largely flat since 2018, when it stood at 562 (now 571). The White share of enrollment declined from 56% to 45% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 14.6:1 today.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.