Cantua Elementary: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Cantua posts low test scores — and attendance holds near the state average — families haven't checked out. If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 21 | 4% | 20% | -25.9 | 13.1% | 1.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Cantua Elementary scores 21 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 4th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “20% proficient” and call it done. Cantua deserves a closer read. The school sits in Cantua Creek, where nearly all students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Test scores are one lens, and at this school they're a rough one right now. The sections below show the fuller picture — including the parts that are working.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 4th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 20% meet the standard today, versus 30% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 38% | 39% | 17% | 38% | 30% |
| Grade 4 | 24% | 18% | 22% | 4% | 30% |
| Grade 5 | 16% | 13% | 21% | 17% | 5% |
| Grade 6 | 30% | 17% | 30% | 6% | 22% |
| Grade 7 | 38% | 13% | 35% | 11% | 54% |
| Grade 8 | 38% | 13% | 19% | 20% | 40% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 63% | 56% | 48% | 48% | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 41% | 24% | 22% | 17% | 29% |
| Grade 5 | 0% | 4% | 11% | 11% | 0% |
| Grade 6 | 5% | 6% | 9% | 19% | 6% |
| Grade 7 | 19% | 13% | 28% | 32% | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 23% | 9% | 31% | 30% | 35% |
The story this school is actually telling
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what changed in the last two years, and what the school is asking families for. Growth shows up in these numbers a year or two after it shows up in classrooms.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Cantua Elementary in Cantua Creek, 28.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 26.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Cantua Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 1.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (17.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (30.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 5.4 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 113 students tested.
Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Low-income student ELA proficiency falls by 25.4pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -3.4pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 7–8 students (21.2% vs 7.7%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
Where the path goes
The path below is estimated from nearby schools in the same district — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated K-12 path based on district and proximity. Actual attendance zones may differ. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The road from this school ends at Tranquillity High, which sent 5 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 5 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Tranquillity High around 2035, and 10 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 55% of Tranquillity High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.
The people teaching here
What gets spent here
$1,142 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
At 184 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 7% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cantua Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Cantua Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Cantua Elementary rank in California?
Is Cantua Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Cantua Elementary?
How does Cantua Elementary compare to other schools in Cantua Creek?
How does Cantua Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 23 | 0% | 30% | 13% | 57% | 30% | −13 |
| Grade 4 | 20 | 20% | 10% | 15% | 55% | 30% | −15 |
| Grade 5 | 21 | 0% | 5% | 19% | 76% | 5% | −43 |
| Grade 6 | 18 | 6% | 17% | 28% | 50% | 22% | −24 |
| Grade 7 | 13 | 0% | 54% | 15% | 31% | 54% | +6 |
| Grade 8 | 20 | 5% | 35% | 30% | 30% | 40% | −6 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 23 | 0% | 26% | 30% | 43% | 26% | −20 |
| Grade 4 | 21 | 5% | 24% | 33% | 38% | 29% | −13 |
| Grade 5 | 21 | 0% | 0% | 19% | 81% | 0% | −35 |
| Grade 6 | 18 | 6% | 0% | 33% | 61% | 6% | −29 |
| Grade 7 | 13 | 0% | 8% | 38% | 54% | 8% | −26 |
| Grade 8 | 20 | 15% | 20% | 15% | 50% | 35% | +3 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 41 | 0% | 7% | 63% | 29% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 113 | 28.3% | +2 | −10 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 110 | 30.0% | +3 | −9 |
| English Learners | 24 | 4.2% | −6 | −6 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantua Elementary ← | — | 21 | 4.1% | 20.0% | −25.9 | 1.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 17 | 1 | #5427 | 9.0% | 30.1% | 7.2% | 4.4% | -42.1pp |
| 2022 | 10 | 1 | #5685 | 6.4% | 25.5% | 47.2% | 1.0% | -38.5pp |
| 2023 | 29 | 24 | #4331 | 3.1% | 23.5% | 17.1% | 2.6% | -16.8pp |
| 2024 | 19 | 3 | #5586 | 8.8% | 22.5% | 12.8% | 4.3% | -29.0pp |
| 2025 | 21 | 4 | #5528 | 4.1% | 20.0% | 13.1% | 1.1% | -25.9pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8.1% | 12.8% | +4.7pp |
| Male | 5.9% | 11.4% | +5.5pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.5% | 10.8% | +4.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 21.4% | 12.0% | -9.4pp |
| English Learners | 5.2% | 10.6% | +5.4pp |
| Homeless | 12.0% | 20.8% | +8.8pp |
| Military-Connected | 0.0% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.3% | 12.1% | +4.8pp |
| All Students | 7.0% | 12.0% | +5.0pp |
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction