Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC posts low test scores — and test scores are one lens among several. 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 | 22 | 3% | 12% | -4.3 | 55.2% | 2.2% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC scores 22 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 →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “12% proficient” and call it done. Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Francisco, where three in four 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
Slipped from the 27th to the 4th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 12% meet the standard today, versus 24% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 24% | 12% | 7% | 10% | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 20% | 20% | 17% | 9% | 21% |
| Grade 5 | 44% | 19% | 24% | 14% | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 28% | 23% | 22% | 23% | 15% |
| Grade 7 | 31% | 19% | 28% | 11% | 28% |
| Grade 8 | 52% | 21% | 11% | 22% | 11% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 25% | 15% | 7% | 6% | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 17% | 25% | 14% | 8% | 2% |
| Grade 5 | 16% | 2% | 12% | 5% | 7% |
| Grade 6 | 23% | 8% | 6% | 11% | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 24% | 10% | 14% | 6% | 13% |
| Grade 8 | 30% | 8% | 9% | 6% | 4% |
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 how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- 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 Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC in San Francisco, 12.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 38.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC trails its district average for low-income students by 26.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (6.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (15.3% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 16.6 percentage points for black students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 248 students tested.
5 of 16 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
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 rises by 1.9pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +9.2pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$102 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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 5% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC a good elementary school?
What are Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC's CAASPP test scores?
How does Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC rank in California?
Is Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC?
How does Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC compare to other schools in San Francisco?
How does Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 76
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
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 | 60 | 3% | 10% | 22% | 65% | 13% | −30 |
| Grade 4 | 47 | 6% | 15% | 9% | 70% | 21% | −24 |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 3% | 9% | 14% | 74% | 12% | −36 |
| Grade 6 | 61 | 0% | 15% | 36% | 49% | 15% | −32 |
| Grade 7 | 50 | 8% | 20% | 22% | 50% | 28% | −20 |
| Grade 8 | 56 | 0% | 11% | 14% | 75% | 11% | −35 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 56 | 4% | 11% | 23% | 63% | 14% | −31 |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 0% | 2% | 18% | 80% | 2% | −39 |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 0% | 7% | 14% | 79% | 7% | −28 |
| Grade 6 | 61 | 0% | 10% | 23% | 67% | 10% | −25 |
| Grade 7 | 48 | 6% | 6% | 19% | 69% | 13% | −21 |
| Grade 8 | 55 | 0% | 4% | 13% | 84% | 4% | −29 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 118 | 0% | 5% | 40% | 55% |
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 | 248 | 12.7% | −26 | −26 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 92 | 15.3% | −11 | −24 |
| English Learners | 82 | 4.9% | −3 | −6 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carmichael (Bessie)/FEC ← | — | 22 | 2.8% | 11.7% | −4.3 | 2.2% |
| Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila | 2.1 mi | 88 | 59.2% | 81.0% | +25.6 | 0.1% |
| Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary | 2.8 mi | 73 | 51.1% | 74.1% | +11.0 | 0.4% |
| The New School of San Francisco | 1.8 mi | 68 | 37.2% | 60.9% | +27.3 | 2.9% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 34 | 27 | #3997 | 6.0% | 24.3% | 27.1% | 1.5% | +5.8pp |
| 2022 | 17 | 5 | #5459 | 3.8% | 15.6% | 65.3% | 2.3% | -3.1pp |
| 2023 | 30 | 26 | #4252 | 2.2% | 13.3% | 58.7% | 3.4% | +11.1pp |
| 2024 | 17 | 2 | #5635 | 1.3% | 8.5% | 49.3% | 4.1% | +1.3pp |
| 2025 | 22 | 4 | #5493 | 2.8% | 11.7% | 55.2% | 2.2% | -4.3pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 26 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 27.2% | 59.1% | +31.9pp |
| Male | 27.4% | 58.2% | +30.8pp |
| Asian | 13.8% | 30.2% | +16.4pp |
| Black/African American | 51.7% | 80.8% | +29.1pp |
| Filipino | 39.1% | 60.5% | +21.4pp |
| White | 15.5% | 48.7% | +33.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 30.1% | 51.9% | +21.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 29.0% | 66.1% | +37.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 30.5% | 64.4% | +33.9pp |
| English Learners | 19.4% | 50.8% | +31.4pp |
| Homeless | 23.6% | 68.9% | +45.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 29.5% | 64.6% | +35.1pp |
| All Students | 27.3% | 58.6% | +31.3pp |
| Foster Youth | — | 69.2% | — |
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