1
How has Riverdale Elementary School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
372
Elementary
DISTRICT 422 · STATE 379
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ADAMS 12 FIVE STAR SCHOOLS·NCES 080690001461
Riverdale Elementary School
10724 ELM DRIVE, THORNTON, CO 80233 · (720) 972-5580 · Adams County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL372 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% of Colorado public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Colorado public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.9:1 · STATE 16.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
249 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 50%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 49 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 42 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 48 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 58 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 60 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (42) is 30% smaller than its 5th grade class (60).
Student demographics
57%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CMAS 2024-25 . % Met or Exceeded ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
29.9%
CO avg 44.9% . +4.1pp since 2023
Math
17.4%
CO avg 36.1% . -6.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Colorado schools, those numbers are about 45 and 36. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 7 points.
CMAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.9% | 17.4% |
| 2023-24 | 25.8% | 23.9% |
% Met or Exceeded Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CMAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
24.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
26.1%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 26% typical for Colorado schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Colorado's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Riverdale Elementary School
Riverdale Elementary School's state test result (24.2% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverdale Elementary School this school | 372 | 66.9% | 24.2% |
| Monfort Elementary School GREELEY | 373 | 68.9% | 19.2% |
| Clayton Elementary School ENGLEWOOD | 402 | 64.2% | 26.1% |
| Nettie S Freed K-8 Expeditionary School PUEBLO | 425 | 69.2% | 28.3% |
| Platteville Elementary School PLATTEVILLE | 317 | 65.3% | 23.8% |
| Liberty Point Elementary School PUEBLO WEST | 451 | 65.2% | 28.6% |
Matched among Colorado elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Riverdale Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In Adams County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 24.2% | #694 of 931 | #41 of 89 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.4% | #754 of 940 ▼ 120 | #47 of 89 ▼ 13 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.9% | #660 of 946 ▲ 58 | #38 of 89 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 372 | #502 of 1,056 | #63 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.1:1 | #561 of 896 | #36 of 90 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.7% | #271 of 896 | #30 of 90 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.9% | #293 of 983 | #52 of 91 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.3% | #294 of 664 | #30 of 63 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
372
-44 (-11%) vs 2020
-43% since 1990-91, when it was 650
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 17.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 372 | 23 | 16.1:1 | 67% (249) |
| 2023-24 | 394 | 25 | 15.8:1 | 68% (267) |
| 2022-23 | 408 | 25 | 16.3:1 | 59% (241) |
| 2020-21 | 416 | 24 | 17.3:1 | 53% (220) |
| 2017-18 | 461 | 21 | 21.9:1 | 51% (236) |
| 2015-16 | 410 | 21 | 19.5:1 | 55% (225) |
| 2010-11 | 437 | 22 | 19.9:1 | 40% (175) |
| 2000-01 | 508 | 29 | 17.5:1 | 12% (63) |
| 1990-91 | 650 | 33 | 19.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Riverdale Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 19% (461 to 372); teachers up 10% (21 to 23).
About Riverdale Elementary School
Riverdale Elementary School, located in THORNTON, Colorado, is a mid-sized elementary school. The school covers pre-K through 5 and reported 372 students in 2024-25.
Adams 12 Five Star Schools counts 54 schools and 34,466 students, including Riverdale Elementary School.
Hispanic students are 56% of those enrolled at Riverdale Elementary School. Next come 35% White, 4% multiracial, 3% Black, and 2% Asian. That compares with about 43% Hispanic among all Adams County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 57%.
There are 23 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 16.1:1. It is about the same as the 16.6:1 average for elementary schools in Colorado. Of all students at Riverdale Elementary School, 67% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among Colorado public elementary schools, Riverdale Elementary School outscored 24%, which works out to a C- on the allk12 Grade.
Riverdale Elementary School is 2.0 points below its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (24.2% versus 26.1%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Colorado.
Census data for Adams County show the median household earns about $94,571 a year, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Counting Riverdale Elementary School, Adams County has 171 public schools.
Riverdale Elementary School is about 0.7 miles from Cherry Drive Elementary School, its nearest public school. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Riverdale Elementary School is 6th of 9 on proficiency.
The school's locale code, Suburb: Large, means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school shrank from 416 students in 2020-21 to 372 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 17.3:1 to 16.1:1.
On allk12, people connected to Riverdale Elementary School can post about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Adams County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
530,225
Census ACS
Median income
$94,571
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
171
87,938 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Adams 12 Five Star Schools
- Legacy High SchoolHigh · 2,052 students
- Horizon High SchoolHigh · 1,966 students
- Northglenn High SchoolHigh · 1,844 students
- Mountain Range High SchoolHigh · 1,788 students
- Stargate Charter SchoolCombined · 1,572 students
- Prospect Ridge AcademyCombined · 1,478 students
Other schools in THORNTON
- Riverdale Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,784 students
- Stargate Charter SchoolCombined · 1,572 students
- Thornton High SchoolHigh · 1,439 students
- Rocky Top Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,052 students
- Rodger Quist Middle SchoolMiddle · 855 students
- York InternationalCombined · 776 students
Other Riverdale Elementary schools
12 other US public schools in 11 states are named Riverdale Elementary. Riverdale Elementary School is the 9th largest of the 13.
- Riverdale Elementary SchoolGermantown, TN · 1,184 students
- Riverdale ElementaryRiverdale, MD · 586 students
- RIVERDALE ELEMENTARYORLANDO, FL · 566 students
- Riverdale Elementary SchoolRiverdale, GA · 559 students
- Riverdale ElementaryCourtland, VA · 533 students
Nearby schools
- Cherry Drive Elementary School0.7 mi · 325
- Woodglen Elementary School1.5 mi · 383
- Explore Pk-81.7 mi · 557
- Glacier Peak Elementary School1.7 mi · 412
- Skyview Elementary School1.9 mi · 326
- Shadow Ridge Middle School2.1 mi · 632
Frequently asked questions
About Riverdale Elementary SchoolHow large is Riverdale Elementary School?
Riverdale Elementary School enrolls approximately 372 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Riverdale Elementary School serve?
Riverdale Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does Riverdale Elementary School have?
Riverdale Elementary School employs 23 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Riverdale Elementary School?
At Riverdale Elementary School, the student body is approximately 35% White, 56% Hispanic, 3% Black, 2% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Riverdale Elementary School in?
Riverdale Elementary School is part of Adams 12 Five Star Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.