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Rio del Mar Elementary

Grades K-62024–25 data
Pajaro Valley UnifiedAptos, Santa Cruz County95003
📍 819 Pinehurst Drive📞 (831) 728-7838
Solid
53/100
Solid — 73rd percentile statewide
#1,398 of 5,230 CA elementary schools
↓ 8.2 pts since 2019
🚀 Growth Engine

A growth engine — students gain measurably more here than at peer schools. Additional funding is translating into measurable improvement

School Climate
85% of students attend consistently
Chronic absenteeism: 15.3% (state avg: 18.1%)
"Attend consistently" means missing ≤10% of school days (the chronic absenteeism threshold).
Moderate suspension rate
3.3% suspension rate (state avg: 1.7%)
Share of students who received at least one suspension during the year.
Source: California Dept. of Education, 2024–25See breakdown by student group →

What the numbers actually mean

Most rating sites report "55% proficient" and stop there. We think that number deserves more context — here's what we found when we looked deeper:

26.3% of students exceeded standard? Level 4 on California's CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment — the state defines four levels: Not Met, Nearly Met, Met, and Exceeded. while 28.6% met it. That exceeded rate is 4.7 points above the state average of 21.6%. That's 19.4 points above the Pajaro Valley Unified district average of 6.9%. The gap between "met" and "exceeded" can reveal how much a school's curriculum challenges students beyond proficiency.

CDE CAASPP 2025
Rio del Mar Elementary
26%
29%
California average
22%
21%
ExceededMet onlyBelow

We tracked the same cohort across years (2023 G3 → 2025 G5): students gained 99 scale score points? Pseudo-cohort tracking: we compare this school's G3 class from a prior year to the G5 class in the current year. Same school, same cohort aged forward. Uses SBAC scale scores designed for cross-year comparison., suggesting this school is adding measurable value over time.

SchoolScope cohort tracking · Same cohort tracked across years using SBAC scale scores — stronger than single-year cross-grade comparison

Chronic absenteeism? Missing 10%+ of enrolled school days. This is an official California Dashboard accountability indicator. is 15.3%, better than the state average of 18.1%.

CDE Attendance 2025

Data you won't find on other sites: Current-year 2025 data direct from CDE · The exceeded vs. met split that most rating sites collapse into one number

Why the exceeded vs. met split matters → · Scope Score is SchoolScope's analysis of CDE data — not an official CDE rating. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

No single score captures a school. This is a starting point — visit, ask questions, trust your instincts.

▸ What this score doesn't capture
  • — Teaching quality, classroom culture, and how teachers connect with students
  • — Arts, athletics, extracurriculars, and enrichment programs
  • — How well the school serves students with IEPs or gifted learners
  • — Parent community engagement and satisfaction
  • — Whether the curriculum aligns with your family's values

Most of our data is updated once per year and may reflect the prior school year.

Before you visit
Questions worth asking and signals worth checking
Who this school is great for
✓Families prioritizing upward trajectory — proficiency improves 16.1pp G3→G5
△Worth checking: Families wanting top-end academic rigor — more students meet the bar (29%) than exceed it (26%)
These reflect data patterns, not guarantees. Your child's experience will depend on their teacher, grade, and classroom — things no score captures.
Score Factors
Academic Performance
✓Exceeded standard: 26.3%
4.7pp above state avg (state avg 21.6%)
43% weight

Exceeded rate gets the highest weight because it separates schools that clear the bar from those that raise it.

Limitation: Reflects tested students only — opt-out rates are not published by CDE.

CDE CAASPP 2025
✓Met or exceeded: 55.0%
12.1pp above state avg (state avg 42.9%)
22% weight

Overall proficiency provides the broadest measure of academic achievement.

Limitation: Combines ‘met’ and ‘exceeded’ — the gap between them matters more than either alone.

CDE CAASPP 2025
✓Growth (G3→G5): +16.1pp
Scores improve across grades (state avg -3.0pp)
15% weight

Growth measures what the school adds, not what families bring. When available, we track the same cohort across years for a stronger signal.

Limitation: Cohort tracking is school-level (not individual students) — transfers and demographic shifts can affect results. Falls back to cross-sectional comparison when historical data is unavailable.

SchoolScope derived
School Climate
✓Chronic absenteeism: 15.3%
2.9pp below state avg (state avg 18.1%)
10% weight

Absenteeism reflects school culture and family engagement — an official CA Dashboard accountability indicator.

Limitation: 10% threshold is the same for all schools regardless of demographics or geography.

CDE Attendance 2025
Holding back
▼Suspension rate: 3.3%
1.7pp above state avg (state avg 1.7%)
5% weight

Low suspension rates correlate with positive school culture and restorative practices.

Limitation: Schools may differ in reporting practices — some underreport to improve metrics.

CDE Discipline 2025
We make judgment calls about what matters. We believe exceeded scores reveal more than proficiency alone, and that growth matters more than raw test results. Reasonable people could weight these differently — and that's fine. The factors above show exactly what we weighted and why, so you can decide where you agree and where you'd adjust. The elementary Scope Score uses 5 dimensions. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

The Scope Score emphasizes academic performance. It weights test proficiency, the exceeded-vs-met gap, and growth trajectory most heavily. If your family prioritizes arts, athletics, school culture, or teaching philosophy, this score captures some of that indirectly (through absenteeism and suspension) but not all of it. Different families should weight these dimensions differently — the score factors above let you see exactly what drives this number.

How to use this
  • –Use for long-term academic patterns, not this week's classroom experience
  • –Verify with a recent visit — scores can't capture a school mid-transformation
  • –Combine with local context — talk to parents, attend a school board meeting, trust your gut
Community Profile
Context — not part of the Scope Score

Student demographics

Hispanic22.1%
White64.2%
Asian2.5%
Black0.7%
Other10.5%
GenderFemale 43.1%Male 56.9%
Resources & Access
Enrollment
408
72 below CA avg (~480)
Free/Reduced Lunch
24%
40pp below CA avg (64%)
Student-Teacher Ratio
23:1
2 more students per teacher than CA avg
Per-Pupil Spending
$15,608
CA avg: $14,815 · District avg · NCES F-33
Teacher Salary Range
$58,520 – $109,309
District schedule · CA median ~$98K
At Rio del Mar Elementary in Aptos, 35.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 19.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Rio del Mar Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 15.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (33.3% Math proficient); White students (60.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 17.8 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 42 students tested.
Equity Gaps
Absenteeism · Disabilities+10.7pp
26.0% vs 15.3% overall · n=100
Suspension · Disabilities+4.5pp
7.8% vs 3.3% overall · n=102
Math · Hispanic−19.8pp
33.5% vs 53.4% overall · n=32
3 more gaps by subject
ELA · Hispanic−17.8pp
39.8% vs 57.6% overall · n=32
ELA Exceeded · Low-Income−17.8pp
10.5% vs 28.4% overall · n=19
Math Exceeded · Low-Income−19.3pp
5.3% vs 24.6% overall · n=19

Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.

Subgroup Proficiency
Low-Income42 tested
ELA 35.7%·Math 33.3%· +15.8pp vs district
White151 tested
ELA 60.7%·Math 56.3%· +8.0pp vs district
Disabilities35 tested
ELA 26.5%·Math 22.9%· +19.4pp vs district

Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.

Subgroup Growth by Grade
Change in proficiency from lowest tested grade. Shows which groups are gaining ground.

Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

Funding Breakdown
Instruction 55%Support 41%Other 4%

Source: NCES F-33 (2019–2020) · Full district breakdown →

Neighborhood Context
Median Income
$137K
$52K above CA median
Median Home Value
$1.11M
$448K above CA median
Bachelor's+
54%
19pp above CA avg
Whole Child
Teacher experience, college/career readiness, and more. Context only — never part of the Scope Score.
Teacher Experience
13.5 years avg experience
19 teachers · 16% second-year
Teacher Credentials
94% fully credentialed

Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25

Community Profile provides context about who attends this school and the resources available. These factors are never part of the Scope Score. Learn why →

5-year trend

6153'19'22'23'24'25
↓ 8.2 points since 2019
Rank: #1696 → #1793 → #1942 → #2348 → #1398Exceeded: 36% → 28% → 25% → 23% → 26%
2019 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · No testing 2020–21 (COVID) · Scope Score based on CAASPP, absenteeism & suspension data

How Rio del Mar Elementary compares

Rio del Mar Elementary vs. California averages — 2025 CAASPP data
MetricThis schoolCA avg
Exceeded Standard26.3%21.6%
Met or Exceeded55.0%42.9%
Chronic Absenteeism15.3%18.1%
Suspension Rate3.3%1.7%
Cohort GrowthStrongAverage

Source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025 · Analyzed by SchoolScope

Grade trajectory

How proficiency compares across grade levels this year (different students, same test year)

ELA Trajectory
50%66.1%G3G4G5
Math Trajectory
39.6%55.7%G3G4G5

ELA scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
3rd5225.0%25.0%19.2%30.8%50.0%
4th4928.6%32.6%18.4%20.4%61.2%
5th6237.1%29.0%22.6%11.3%66.1%
6th6622.7%30.3%34.9%12.1%53.0%

Math scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
3rd5317.0%22.6%32.1%28.3%39.6%
4th4914.3%42.9%28.6%14.3%57.1%
5th6136.1%19.7%29.5%14.8%55.7%
6th6630.3%30.3%25.8%13.6%60.6%

Science scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
5th6016.7%41.7%40.0%1.7%58.3%

60 students tested · CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually like ELA/Math. Not included in the Scope Score. · Data source: CDE CAST 2025

K-12 Feeder Path
Elementary
Rio del Mar Elementary
53/100
This school
▼
High School

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

Schools nearby
Planning ahead? 1 licensed preschools near this school →

Frequently asked questions

Is Rio del Mar Elementary a good elementary school?
Rio del Mar Elementary has a Scope Score of 53 out of 100, placing it in the 73rd percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #1,398 statewide. 26.3% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 4.7 percentage points above the California average of 21.6%. The Scope Score weights five dimensions: the exceeded-vs-met split (45%), proficiency (25%), grade-level growth (15%), chronic absenteeism (10%), and suspension rate (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.
What are Rio del Mar Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 55.0% of students at Rio del Mar Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 26.3% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 28.6% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 26.3% pushed past it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it reveals whether a school's curriculum challenges students beyond minimum proficiency or paces toward it. 326 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Rio del Mar Elementary rank in California?
Rio del Mar Elementary ranks #1,398 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 73rd percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), grade-level growth (Grade 3 to grade 5 growth), chronic absenteeism, and suspension rate. Unlike single-number ratings, the Scope Score shows what drives the ranking so parents can decide what matters most to their family. See full methodology.
Is Rio del Mar Elementary getting better or worse?
Based on 2025 CAASPP data, proficiency at Rio del Mar Elementary increases by 16.1 percentage points from Grade 3 to grade 5 growth. This upward trajectory suggests the school is adding measurable value — students leave with higher proficiency rates than they entered with. Growth trajectory is weighted at 15% in the elementary Scope Score because it measures what the school does, not just who walks in the door.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Rio del Mar Elementary?
15.3% of students at Rio del Mar Elementary are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), which is better than the California average of 18.1%. The suspension rate is 3.3%. SchoolScope includes these culture metrics in the Scope Score because they reflect day-to-day school experience in ways test scores alone cannot.
How does Rio del Mar Elementary compare to other schools in Aptos?
Rio del Mar Elementary scores 53/100 (73rd percentile) among California elementary schools. To compare with nearby schools, SchoolScope shows the same metrics side by side: exceeded rate, proficiency, growth trajectory, and school culture indicators. The school serves 408 students. Use the schools in Aptos page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.
How does Rio del Mar Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Rio del Mar Elementary in Aptos, 35.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 19.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Rio del Mar Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 15.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (33.3% Math proficient); White students (60.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 17.8 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 42 students tested. SchoolScope shows disaggregated test scores by demographic subgroup so you can see how a school performs for your child's specific group — not just the school-wide average. Subgroup data is context, not part of the Scope Score: we don't penalize schools for who they serve. See our equity approach.
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Data source: California Department of Education (2025 test year) · How we score · Explore all schools · Blog