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What advice would you give to incoming students at Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
960
Elementary
DISTRICT 517 · STATE 379
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 080234006483
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory
24551 EAST 1ST AVENUE, AURORA, CO 80018 · (303) 364-3757 · Arapahoe County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL960 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 28% 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.
- C-Beats 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
20.0:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.2:1 · STATE 16.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
527 students
DISTRICT 81% · STATE 50%
Community
6
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 | 60 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 91 | 9% |
| Grade 1 | 77 | 8% |
| Grade 2 | 82 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 99 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 104 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 119 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 109 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 109 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 110 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (91) is 17% smaller than its 8th grade class (110).
Student demographics
72%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 60% · 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
36.5%
CO avg 44.9% . +2.5pp since 2023
Math
27.9%
CO avg 36.1% . +1.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 28 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
CMAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 36.5% | 27.9% |
| 2023-24 | 34.0% | 26.2% |
% 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
29.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.4%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 33% 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 Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory's state test result (29.7% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory this school | 960 | 54.9% | 29.7% |
| Harmony Ridge P-8 AURORA | 894 | 61.7% | 28.9% |
| Murphy Creek K-8 School AURORA | 855 | 59.9% | 52.8% |
| Southlawn Elementary School COMMERCE CITY | 673 | 52.7% | 24.6% |
| Eastridge Community Elementary School AURORA | 716 | 65.6% | 17.1% |
| Soaring Eagles Community School COLORADO SPRINGS | 764 | 62.6% | 39.6% |
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 Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Colorado | In Arapahoe County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #591 of 931 | #50 of 96 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 27.9% | #574 of 940 ▲ 5 | #56 of 96 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.5% | #550 of 946 ▲ 37 | #51 of 96 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 960 | #13 of 1,056 | #2 of 104 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.0:1 | #865 of 896 | #91 of 97 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.4% | #23 of 896 | #19 of 97 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.9% | #424 of 983 | #49 of 101 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.1% | #473 of 664 | #48 of 70 |
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
960
+101 (+12%) vs 2020
+8% since 2010-11, when it was 887
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
was 18.3:1
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 | 960 | 48 | 20.0:1 | 55% (527) |
| 2023-24 | 937 | 52 | 18.0:1 | 56% (523) |
| 2022-23 | 1,037 | 50.2 | 20.7:1 | 48% (501) |
| 2020-21 | 859 | 47 | 18.3:1 | 35% (299) |
| 2017-18 | 1,068 | 53.6 | 19.9:1 | 44% (471) |
| 2015-16 | 930 | 54 | 17.2:1 | 41% (385) |
| 2010-11 | 887 | 42 | 21.1:1 | 46% (409) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (1,068 to 960); teachers down 10% (53.6 to 48).
About Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory is a large elementary school in AURORA, Colorado, (ZIP code 80018). The latest federal count shows 960 students in pre-K through 8. Against the 379-student average for elementary schools in Colorado, enrollment here is 153% higher.
Aurora Public Schools, which runs Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory, has 59 schools and 39,464 students.
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory has no majority group; Hispanic students are the largest, at 42%. Beyond that, enrollment is 23% White, 18% Black, 9% multiracial, and 7% Asian. In Arapahoe County overall, about 22% of residents are Hispanic. Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory's diversity index is 72%, against a US figure of 70%.
At Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory, 48 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 20.0:1. That is higher than the 16.6:1 average for elementary schools in Colorado. Roughly 55% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch.
Measured against Colorado public elementary schools, Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory scores 29.7% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 33.4%.
Census Bureau estimates for Arapahoe County show that the median household income is $101,087, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 47%, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory is one of 176 public schools in the county.
Nearby, Vista Peak 9-12 Preparatory is about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles of Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory, there are at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory is 2nd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
NCES assigns Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory the locale City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 960, a 12% increase from 859 in 2020-21. The number of students per teacher rose from 18.3 to 20.0 over 4 years.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Arapahoe County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
659,844
Census ACS
Median income
$101,087
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
47%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
176
115,502 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Aurora Public Schools
- Aurora Central CampusCombined · 2,468 students
- Rangeview High SchoolHigh · 2,078 students
- Vista Peak 9-12 PreparatoryHigh · 2,045 students
- Gateway High SchoolHigh · 1,748 students
- Hinkley High SchoolHigh · 1,527 students
- Lotus School for ExcellenceCombined · 1,008 students
Other schools in AURORA
- Cherokee Trail High SchoolHigh · 3,089 students
- Grandview High SchoolHigh · 2,684 students
- Aurora Central CampusCombined · 2,468 students
- Smoky Hill High SchoolHigh · 2,297 students
- Overland High SchoolHigh · 2,228 students
- Rangeview High SchoolHigh · 2,078 students
Nearby schools
- Vista Peak 9-12 Preparatory0.3 mi · 2,045
- Harmony Ridge P-81.6 mi · 894
- Murphy Creek K-8 School2.0 mi · 855
- Sky Ranch Academy2.5 mi · 495
- Clyde Miller K-83.5 mi · 466
- Aurora Highlands K-84.0 mi · 472
Frequently asked questions
About Vista Peak P-8 ExploratoryHow many students attend Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory?
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory enrolls approximately 960 students in grades PK-08.
Is Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory an elementary, middle, or high school?
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many students per teacher at Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory?
Approximately 20.0:1 students per teacher at Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory.
How diverse is Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory?
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory reports a student body of 23% White, 42% Hispanic, 18% Black, 7% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Who oversees Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory?
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory is overseen by Aurora Public Schools in Arapahoe County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.