Castlebay Lane Charter: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Castlebay Lane Charter posts 46.2% exceeding the standard — versus 21.3% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 73 | 46% | 73% | +2.4 | 14.8% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Castlebay Lane Charter scores 73 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 93rd 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 →
💪 Strong All-Around — Ask about what we don't score — class size, electives, the feel of a classroom — strong numbers everywhere on paper don't mean every classroom feels the same.
Most rating sites would stop at “73% proficient” and call it done. Castlebay Lane Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Porter Ranch, where one in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Castlebay Lane Charter's low-income kids hit 59.3% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
As a charter, Castlebay Lane Charter enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 82nd to the 93rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 600 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 73% of students meet the standard today, above the 69% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 74% | 80% | 62% | 72% | 63% |
| Grade 4 | 63% | 75% | 76% | 68% | 82% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 81% | 76% | 78% | 78% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 74% | 88% | 70% | 75% | 74% |
| Grade 4 | 68% | 66% | 81% | 75% | 75% |
| Grade 5 | 63% | 69% | 65% | 73% | 65% |
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 honest read: the share exceeding falls 3.1pp across grades; the floor rises 14.4pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Castlebay Lane Charter's most underrated number
59.3% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 5 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 Castlebay Lane Charter in Porter Ranch, 59.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Castlebay Lane Charter outperforms its district average for low-income students by 18.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (60.5% Math proficient); White students (70.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 34.5 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 86 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 rises by 22.5pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (19.6% vs 10.6%). 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 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.
$513 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), 64% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Castlebay Lane Charter a good elementary school?
What are Castlebay Lane Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Castlebay Lane Charter rank in California?
Is Castlebay Lane Charter getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Castlebay Lane Charter?
How does Castlebay Lane Charter compare to other schools in Porter Ranch?
How does Castlebay Lane Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 76
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 60
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
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 | 101 | 46% | 18% | 27% | 10% | 63% | +20 |
| Grade 4 | 97 | 49% | 33% | 14% | 3% | 82% | +38 |
| Grade 5 | 99 | 42% | 35% | 15% | 7% | 78% | +30 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 101 | 37% | 38% | 17% | 9% | 74% | +29 |
| Grade 4 | 97 | 52% | 24% | 21% | 4% | 75% | +34 |
| Grade 5 | 99 | 52% | 13% | 21% | 14% | 65% | +29 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 99 | 35% | 28% | 35% | 1% |
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 | 86 | 59.3% | +18 | +21 |
| White | 131 | 70.2% | +1 | +8 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 65 | 63.1% | +22 | +24 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlebay Lane Charter ← | — | 73 | 46.2% | 73.0% | +2.4 | 0.4% |
| Porter Ranch Community | 1.9 mi | 78 | 55.3% | 78.5% | +2.7 | 0.3% |
| Beckford Charter for Enriched Studies | 1.8 mi | 76 | 61.0% | 82.6% | −9.8 | 0.1% |
| Granada Hills Charter | 2.6 mi | 74 | 54.1% | 77.2% | −21.2 | 1.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 61 | 82 | #981 | 42.1% | 68.9% | 10.3% | 0.0% | -7.1pp |
| 2022 | 65 | 91 | #533 | 50.9% | 76.5% | 23.5% | 0.0% | -8.7pp |
| 2023 | 72 | 94 | #361 | 47.4% | 71.8% | 19.5% | 0.2% | +4.6pp |
| 2024 | 66 | 89 | #658 | 48.4% | 73.4% | 17.4% | 0.2% | +2.4pp |
| 2025 | 73 | 93 | #377 | 46.2% | 73.0% | 14.8% | 0.4% | +2.4pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8.8% | 16.5% | +7.7pp |
| Male | 11.5% | 12.8% | +1.3pp |
| Asian | 6.9% | 9.9% | +3.0pp |
| Black/African American | 8.7% | 15.0% | +6.3pp |
| White | 3.7% | 4.2% | +0.5pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 14.1% | 16.0% | +1.9pp |
| Two or More Races | 3.9% | 14.7% | +10.8pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 15.3% | 18.4% | +3.1pp |
| English Learners | 26.2% | 25.9% | -0.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 18.8% | 23.0% | +4.2pp |
| All Students | 10.3% | 14.6% | +4.3pp |
| Filipino | — | 18.1% | — |
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