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What do you wish you knew before starting at Discovery Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
489
Elementary
DISTRICT 516 · STATE 499
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ARLINGTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510027003006
Discovery Elementary
5241 36th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207 · (703) 288-2685 · Arlington County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL489 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 85% of Virginia public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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 Virginia public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.7:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.4:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
4%
21 students
DISTRICT 31% · STATE 66%
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 | 35 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 81 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 71 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 77 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 72 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 80 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 73 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (81) is 11% larger than its 5th grade class (73).
Student demographics
48%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 71% · 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
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingEnglish Language Arts
94.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +4.0pp since 2022
Math
95.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +7.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 94 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 95 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 7 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 94.0% | 95.0% |
| 2023-24 | 90.0% | 93.0% |
| 2022-23 | 90.0% | 88.0% |
% Passing, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SOL. 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
90.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
86.9%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 90% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 87% typical for Virginia 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 Virginia'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 Discovery Elementary
Discovery Elementary's state test result (90.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Elementary this school | 489 | 4.3% | 90.0% |
| Tuckahoe Elementary Arlington | 448 | 3.1% | 95.4% |
| Jamestown Elementary Arlington | 456 | 2.9% | 92.6% |
| Nottingham Elementary Arlington | 382 | 4.7% | 94.3% |
| Butts Road Primary Chesapeake | 498 | 12.7% | N/A |
| Taylor Elementary Arlington | 530 | 9.1% | 87.4% |
Matched among Virginia 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 Discovery Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia | In Arlington County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 90.0% | #53 of 1,101 | #7 of 25 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 95.0% | #18 of 1,111 ▲ 7 | #5 of 25 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 94.0% | #16 of 1,111 ▲ 42 | #4 of 25 ▲ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 489 | #612 of 1,176 | #17 of 26 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.7:1 | #285 of 1,105 | #13 of 25 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 48.4% | #788 of 1,106 | #21 of 25 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 4.3% | #1,146 of 1,157 | #23 of 25 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.3% | #151 of 759 | #8 of 19 |
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
489
-47 (-9%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
12.7:1
was 16.2:1
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 | 489 | 38.5 | 12.7:1 | 4% (21) |
| 2023-24 | 523 | 39 | 13.4:1 | 4% (22) |
| 2022-23 | 523 | 37 | 14.1:1 | 3% (15) |
| 2020-21 | 536 | 33 | 16.2:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 621 | 38 | 16.3:1 | 4% (22) |
| 2015-16 | 529 | 37 | 14.3:1 | 3% (18) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Discovery Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (621 to 489); teachers up 1% (38 to 38.5).
About Discovery Elementary
Discovery Elementary is an elementary school in Arlington, Virginia, according to federal school records. It enrolls 489 students in 2024-25. The grades offered are pre-K through 5.
Arlington County Public Schools (36 schools, 27,950 students) runs Discovery Elementary.
The largest group at Discovery Elementary is White students, at 70%. Other groups make up 13% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 2% Black. County-wide, 60% of Arlington County residents are White. The diversity index for Discovery Elementary is 48%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 12.7:1. The school has 38.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. The school's 12.7:1 compares with an average of 13.8:1 for elementary schools in Virginia. Federal data show 4% of students (21) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is below the 31% average among public schools in Arlington County.
Discovery Elementary holds an A allk12 Grade, placing it above 85% of Virginia public elementary schools.
A school with Discovery Elementary's lunch-eligibility share in Virginia is predicted to score 86.9%. Discovery Elementary scores 90.0%, 3.1 points above that line.
For Arlington County, Census Bureau data show the median household earns about $142,114 a year, roughly 77% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Counting Discovery Elementary, Arlington County has 42 public schools.
Discovery Elementary's nearest public school is Williamsburg Middle (less than a tenth of a mile). Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 92.5%; Discovery Elementary's is 90.0%, ranking 7th of 8.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Mid-size: inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Discovery Elementary had a net loss of 47 students, or 9%. Its ratio of students to teachers was 16.2:1 in 2020-21, and 12.7:1 in 2024-25.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on special education services, counseling, and support programs here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Arlington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
236,254
Census ACS
Median income
$142,114
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
77%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
42
27,950 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Arlington County Public Schools
- Washington-Liberty HighHigh · 3,044 students
- Wakefield HighHigh · 2,646 students
- Yorktown HighHigh · 2,593 students
- Jefferson MiddleMiddle · 1,120 students
- Gunston MiddleMiddle · 1,072 students
- Kenmore MiddleMiddle · 1,053 students
Other schools in Arlington
- Washington-Liberty HighHigh · 3,044 students
- Wakefield HighHigh · 2,646 students
- Yorktown HighHigh · 2,593 students
- Jefferson MiddleMiddle · 1,120 students
- Gunston MiddleMiddle · 1,072 students
- Kenmore MiddleMiddle · 1,053 students
Other Discovery Elementary schools
16 other US public schools in 10 states are named Discovery Elementary. Discovery Elementary is the 13th largest of the 17.
- Discovery ElementaryAshburn, VA · 639 students
- Discovery Elementary - 26Sioux Falls, SD · 873 students
- DISCOVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSUNRISE, FL · 789 students
- Discovery ElementarySan Marcos, CA · 717 students
- Discovery ElementaryBakersfield, CA · 706 students
Nearby schools
- Williamsburg Middle0.1 mi · 856
- Yorktown High0.5 mi · 2,593
- Nottingham Elementary0.6 mi · 382
- Jamestown Elementary0.7 mi · 456
- Chesterbrook Elementary0.8 mi · 557
- Tuckahoe Elementary1.3 mi · 448
Frequently asked questions
About Discovery ElementaryHow many students attend Discovery Elementary?
Discovery Elementary enrolls approximately 489 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Discovery Elementary serve?
Discovery Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Discovery Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Discovery Elementary is approximately 12.7:1 (39 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Discovery Elementary?
At Discovery Elementary, the student body is approximately 70% White, 8% Hispanic, 2% Black, 7% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Who oversees Discovery Elementary?
Discovery Elementary is overseen by Arlington County Public Schools in Arlington County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.