Joe Shoemaker School

Joe Shoemaker School is a PK–5 elementary school in School District No. 1, serving 543 students near the Aurora/Denver border in the 80231 zip code. The school currently ranks in the bottom decile of Colorado elementary schools — 860th out of 943 — and has earned a 0-star rating, a steep fall from its 2-star rating in 2021–2022. Proficiency rates are dramatically below district and state averages in every subject. Just 16.8% of students are proficient in English Language Arts and only 7.3% in math, compared to district rates of 42.5% and 35.0%, respectively.

The most striking concern may be chronic absenteeism. In 2024–2025, 57.7% of students were chronically absent — nearly double the district rate of 38.1% and more than double the state rate of 28.4%. This represents a sharp jump from 41.8% the prior year. Nearby schools with similar or higher poverty levels tell a very different story. Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside serves an 85.9% free/reduced lunch population yet posts 45.5% ELA and 52.4% math proficiency with just 12.8% chronic absenteeism. Holm Elementary School has nearly identical poverty levels (69.8% FRL) yet achieves 37.2% ELA and 26.0% math proficiency. Even closest neighbor Polton Community Elementary School, just 0.92 miles away, outperforms Joe Shoemaker by 23 points in ELA and 24 points in math.

The student-teacher ratio has also climbed from 14.1 to 18.5 in two years, the highest among nearby schools, likely meaning larger class sizes and less individual attention. There is one small bright spot: 5th-grade science proficiency improved from 8.5% to 15.4% in the past year. For families considering this school, the picture is clear — Joe Shoemaker is facing an escalating attendance crisis that will likely need to be addressed before academic gains can take hold. The comparison to nearby schools serving similar populations suggests that poverty alone does not explain these outcomes, and that school-level factors are playing a significant role.