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Public elementary school

Cayucos Elementary

Cayucos, CA · Grades TK-8 · 185 students · Cayucos Elementary

A foundation in the reported results. Look across subjects and student groups.

73% of tested students are Proficient or Advanced in English and 68% in math. Explore the evidence alongside the opportunities your child would use.

Patterns to investigate · 2025

Solid Base

66.3% Met or Exceeded · unweighted grade–subject rate average

Do those results extend across subjects and student groups?

Findings can overlap. They describe reported results, not what caused them. Definitions and limits →

Contact

DistrictCayucos Elementary
PrincipalLiz Villalobos
GradesTK-8
Enrollment185 students

Math

68%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

English

73%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

Students

185

Total enrollment

Chronic absence

9%

Students absent 10% or more of school days

What are you trying to decide?

The overall score is a starting point.

Look at subject results, trends and student groups, then consider the opportunities your child would use.

View school performance →

Academic performance

What do the results tell us?

2025 results · Grades 3 & 5 · weighted by students tested within each subject.

Proficient or Advanced combines Levels 3 and 4, formerly Standard Met and Standard Exceeded. California changed the names for 2025–26; the cut scores did not. About the labels →

Share at Proficient or Advanced

0%25%50%75%100%2019: 48%2022: 58%2023: 59%2024: 58%2025: 68%2019: 71%2022: 71%2023: 73%2024: 69%2025: 73%201920222023202420250%25%50%75%100%2019: 48%2022: 58%2023: 59%2024: 58%2025: 68%2019: 71%2022: 71%2023: 73%2024: 69%2025: 73%20192022202320242025
● Math┄ English

Gaps in the lines mark years without annual results.

Exact annual results
YearMathEnglish
201948%71%
202258%71%
202359%73%
202458%69%
202568%73%

Each year describes that year’s tested students. Changes between years do not follow the same children over time. Cohort-growth evidence, when available, is labeled separately below.

Annual results and the full academic record
Is it getting better · CAASPP 2019 to 2025

Climbed from the 76th to the 89th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 700 elementary schools.

Most rating sites would stop at “66% proficient” and call it done. Cayucos deserves a closer read. It sits at the 89th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.

The headline number: 9.3% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.

123 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · no cohort tracked

Cayucos Elementary scores 62 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 89th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 66% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide
Year detailsYear2019 · 76th percentile · Scope Score 53 of 1002022 · 79th percentile · Scope Score 53 of 1002023 · 83rd percentile · Scope Score 58 of 1002024 · 77th percentile · Scope Score 51 of 1002025 · 89th percentile · Scope Score 62 of 100
ELABlue(Increased Significantly)MathGreen(Declined)
ShowHide the by-grade tables, year by year
ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 374%69%67%68%78%
Grade 468%72%75%45%68%
Grade 569%72%78%71%67%
Grade 667%70%63%59%69%
Grade 759%75%67%56%60%
Grade 853%56%68%75%68%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 352%77%61%68%83%
Grade 474%65%92%50%50%
Grade 544%39%57%43%52%
Grade 650%63%38%64%54%
Grade 765%70%71%44%58%
Grade 840%50%56%69%32%
Where students land · CAASPP 2024–25

Two-thirds of students here meet the standard. Two in five clear it by a lot.

ELA68% met or exceeded
Exceeded 40%Met 28%Nearly Met 16%Not Met 15%
Math56% met or exceeded
Exceeded 32%Met 23%Nearly Met 25%Not Met 19%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded
This school against the California average
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
Scope% Exceeded% Met+GrowthAbsenceSuspension
This school6241%66%—9.3%1.5%
CA average · Elementary School3921%43%—17.9%1.6%
This schoolCA avg
Scope6239
% Exceeded41%21%
% Met+66%43%
Growth——
Absence9.3%17.9%
Suspension1.5%1.6%
California’s growth results and student groups
State growth model · CDE growth model 2024–25

California's own growth model splits here — the 76th percentile in reading against the 51st in math, among elementary schools.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits a little above the middle of California elementary schools in reading, and the 51st in math. We show it; we don't score it.

— pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California elementary school lands at +2 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −5 and +9 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

California's growth model, ranked against the schools it scores
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +9 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 76th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.76th pctile · +9 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +1 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 51st percentile of 7,518 reported schools.51st pctile · +1 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

Students & opportunity

Who shares in the school’s results?

Who it works for · CAASPP 2024–25

How every group of students does here

At Cayucos Elementary in Cayucos, 72.6% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 72.6% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Cayucos Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (58.1% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 62 students tested.

Met or exceeded · reading and math combined
All students at this school: 62% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 62%, district —, state 43%62%
WhiteWhite: this school 65%, district 65%, state 56%65% · +3 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 59%, district 59%, state 44%59% · −3 vs school
MaleMale: this school 69%, district 69%, state 42%69% · +7 vs school

8 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
ShowHide Student-group results by grade
Student-group results by grade

Results compare different grade groups in the same year, relative to the lowest tested grade. They do not track the same children over time. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

ShowHide California's growth model by student group
The state's growth model, by student group

California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California elementary school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.

Reading
English Only90 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +10 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 90 students.+10 pts · +7 vs typical
White65 studentsWhite, reading: +12 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 65 students.+12 pts · +7 vs typical
Math
English Only90 studentsEnglish Only, math: +1 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 90 students.+1 pts · 0 vs typical
White65 studentsWhite, math: +1 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 65 students.+1 pts · −4 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 3 more groups are reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

The daily experience

What is it like to be a student here?

Students per teacher

Student–teacher ratio is a schoolwide staffing measure, not an average class size.

The people teaching · CDE staffing 2024–25

About 13 students for every teacher here.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Students per teacher13 · district 13
Teaching staff17 teachers
Avg. experience16.3 years
Fully credentialed80%
PrincipalLiz Villalobos
ShowHide what the district pays
Teacher salary schedule$51,508 – $128,694
Principal salaryFrom $133,840
Superintendent salary$177,080

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

Attendance & discipline · 2024–25

Kids here show up more, and get suspended less, than the state average.

TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 7–8 students (13.0% vs 2.2%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 9.3%, district 9.3%, state 17.9%9.3% · −8.6pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 1.5%, district —, state 1.6%1.5% · −0.1pp vs state
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
ShowHide attendance by student group and by grade
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–65.4%
Grades 7–82.2%
TK/K13.0%

Resources & neighborhood

What sits behind the school experience?

Explore school spending and the district budget
What gets spent · FY 2024–25

It spends $29,486 per student, more than the California average.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

$569 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.

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $29,486, CA average $14,491$29,486 · spent at this school
Federal share$569 per student
District current expense · FY 2024–25$28,627 per student
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction 58%Instruction support 5%Student services 12%Administration 16%Buildings & maintenance 8%Other 1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

ShowHide the district's spending year by year
district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$24,512 per pupil
2019$19,071 per pupil
2018$19,756 per pupil
2017$18,712 per pupil
2016$16,237 per pupil
The neighborhood · ACS 2024

One in five of students here qualify for free or reduced lunch, versus three in five statewide.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Worth knowing

At 185 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), 58% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.

Hispanic or Latino27.6% · district 27.6% · CA 56.1%
White62.7% · district 62.7% · CA 19.9%
Black0.5% · district 0.5% · CA 4.8%
Other9.2% · district 9.2% · CA 9.0%
Free or reduced lunch23.2% · CA 64%
Median income$90K · CA $85K
Median home value$1.02M · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+45% · CA 35%
ZIP population3,125
Median age60 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Culture & philosophy

What is the school’s approach?

School-stated approach · questions for your visit

Look beyond the brochure

A source-reviewed culture summary is not available for this profile yet. Ask how teaching, student support and family communication work day to day.

Read the school’s own website ↗

Family voices

What would you want another family to know about the daily experience here?

Ask a current family: “When your child needs help, how does the school respond?”

Educator voices

What should families understand about teaching, support and the school community?

Ask an educator: “How do you adapt a typical day for children with different needs?”

Bring these questions on a visit →

Compare nearby schools

What are the alternatives?

Compare schools serving the same grade stage. Private schools have no comparable state-test score.

2025 · elementary schools · combined reading and math measures. Percentiles compare schools within their enrollment group.

Private options →
SchoolTypePerformance bandAdvancedProficient or AdvancedDistanceSelect
Cayucos ElementaryPublicStrong41%66%School being viewed
Open the comparison tool →
More nearby public and private options
Your other options

Your other options

Private school options within 10 miles.

All schools in Cayucos →

Private schools do not receive a Scope Score or statewide ranking on SchoolScope.

1 private school within 10 miles
Not scored
What should I check before applying?
District public
Confirm the attendance boundary and any permit options.
Charter
Check applications, priorities and deadlines with each school.
Private
Confirm admission requirements, tuition and financial aid.

Moving & enrollment

Which schools could serve my child?

Check your address with the district

School location and nearby schools do not establish attendance eligibility. Confirm boundaries and permit requirements with Cayucos Elementary.

District information →School website →

Schools across the K–12 journey

Elementary · K–5

Middle · 6–8

High school · 9–12

No school established for this stage.

Schools are grouped by grade stage. Nearby schools are not confirmed feeder links or address assignments. Verify the current path and eligibility with the district.

Plan your next step

What should I do next?

Worth a school visit

Ask how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.

  • 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.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is Cayucos Elementary a good elementary school?
Cayucos Elementary has a Scope Score of 62 out of 100, placing it in the 89th percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #638 statewide. 41.4% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 20.0 percentage points above the California average of 21.4%. The Scope Score weights 6 dimensions for elementary schools: exceeded standard (42%), met or exceeded (proficient) (23%), grade 3-to-5 growth (20%), chronic absenteeism (5%), suspension rate (5%), and ELPAC English Learner proficiency (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.
What are Cayucos Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 66.3% of students at Cayucos Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 41.4% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 25.0% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 41.4% went beyond it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it shows how many students go beyond the standard rather than only meeting it. 132 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Cayucos Elementary rank in California?
Cayucos Elementary ranks #638 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 89th 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.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Cayucos Elementary?
9.3% of students at Cayucos Elementary are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), which is better than the California average of 17.9%. The suspension rate is 1.5%, indicating a low-discipline-incident environment. 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 Cayucos Elementary compare to other schools in Cayucos?
Cayucos Elementary scores 62/100 (89th 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 185 students. Use the schools in Cayucos page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.
How does Cayucos Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Cayucos Elementary in Cayucos, 72.6% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 72.6% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Cayucos Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (58.1% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 62 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.

Use the published evidence to prepare questions, then verify fit and access with the school.

Behind the evidence

Inspect the full record

Public sources, visible methods and the underlying school record. Source years and limitations stay attached to the evidence.

How the Scope Score is calculated

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see the state comparison and weights.

What the score weighs · CAASPP 2024–25

The 5 things our score weighs

What the score weighs
What we weighHereStateWeight
Exceeded standard41.4%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded66.3%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism9.3%17.9%5%
Suspension rate1.5%1.6%5%
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)-20.9pp-2.9pp—

Source CAASPP 2025 · California Department of Education. Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How the score is built

A closer look at the evidence

Cayucos Elementary: reading the evidence

Cayucos has an average Met + Exceeded rate of 66% and an Exceeded rate of 41.4% across the reported grades and subjects. Ask how students are supported and challenged at different starting points.

Subject proficiency describes tested students, while graduation describes a graduating cohort. These figures are not successive stages followed by the same students.

Do those results extend across subjects and student groups?

Explore the underlying data →
Every number: score factors, grades, student groups and downloads
Every number · For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and nearest schools.

Cayucos Elementary is ranked #638 statewide.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Score factors
FactorSchoolStateWeight
Exceeded standard41.4%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded66.3%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism9.3%17.9%5%
Suspension rate1.5%1.6%5%
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)-20.9pp-2.9ppnot scored
Exceeded standard
↑ vs CA 21.4% · index 69 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded
↑ vs CA 42.7% · index 68 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Chronic absenteeism
↑ vs CA 17.9% · index 64 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · ▼ 4.8pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 51 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · ▼ 1.0pp lower vs 2024
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)
↓ vs CA -2.9pp
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ShowHide table 02 — By grade & subgroup
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 32361%17%9%13%78%+35
Grade 42241%27%23%9%68%+24
Grade 52133%33%14%19%67%+19
Grade 61346%23%15%15%69%+23
Grade 72528%32%24%16%60%+12
Grade 81932%37%11%21%68%+22
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 32343%39%13%4%83%+37
Grade 42241%9%32%18%50%+9
Grade 52129%24%24%24%52%+17
Grade 6138%46%31%15%54%+19
Grade 72635%23%12%31%58%+24
Grade 81926%5%47%21%32%−0

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, that we hold no valid result for it, or that the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide4013%45%40%3%

CAST is tested in grades 5 and 8, then once in grade 10, 11, or 12. This row is the school's all-student aggregate. Not part of the Scope Score.

Subgroup · ELATestedMET+vs districtvs CA
White6272.6%+0+11
03Nearest elementary schoolssorted by Scope Score · Grade gap = grade 3 vs grade 5, this year, different students; Cohort growth = one school's returning cohort tracked across grades (mostly, not exactly, the same kids), in scale-score points — that's the measurement the Scope Score weights
SchoolDistScopeEXCMET+Grade gapCohort growthSusp
Cayucos Elementary ←—6241.4%66.3%−20.9pp—1.5%
California average—3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp—1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
ShowHide table 04 — More measures
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20195376#131034.6%63.5%14.6%2.0%-6.8pp
20225379#118731.4%65.8%31.5%2.0%-17.5pp
20235883#98335.5%71.5%—3.5%+3.5pp
20245177#133429.1%57.6%14.1%2.5%-11.0pp
20256289#63841.4%66.3%9.3%1.5%-20.9pp
Grade gap = this year's grade 3 vs grade 5 result, two different sets of students, not a trend for any one child — it is not the measurement the Scope Score's growth dimension uses. See §01 above and /methodology#verdicts for the school's actual scored (cohort) growth.
NO STATEWIDE TESTING 2020–21 (COVID) · SCORE AND PERCENTILE ARE RELATIVE TO EACH YEAR'S FIELD
What we can't show
  • — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
ShowHide table 05 — Climate by student group
Group20192025Δ
Female18.6%7.5%-11.1pp
Male11.9%7.0%-4.9pp
Hispanic/Latino15.6%13.0%-2.6pp
Two or More Races15.4%——
White15.3%3.4%-11.9pp
Students with Disabilities26.1%5.6%-20.5pp
Homeless33.3%——
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged16.7%16.3%-0.4pp
All Students15.6%7.3%-8.3pp
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
ShowHide table 06 — California growth model, by student group
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+997Accelerated+197Average
English Only+1090not categorised+190not categorised
White+1265Accelerated+165Average
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+121Average−421Average
Hispanic or Latino−1020Moderate+720Accelerated
Students with Disabilities−1011Moderate011Average

Whole scale-score points above or below what CDE's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores — not a percentage, not a percentile. Statewide a typical school lands near +1 with a spread of about 13 points either side, so read a figure against its group's own typical value, not against zero. Muted rows have fewer than 30 students with a growth score — published by CDE, held back from the narrative sections above because at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own. “Not categorised” is CDE assigning no band — English Only, Recently Reclassified, and English Learners Only receive a value and no band, for every school in the state. It is not a missing number. Most figures blend two consecutive years, so adjacent published years share input data and no trend line can honestly be drawn across them. A group absent from this table had fewer than 11 students with a growth score and was never published. Grades 4-8 only. None of this enters the Scope Score — it is more strongly correlated with school demographics than our own growth measure, and one published year is not enough to test its reliability.

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EXC = exceeded standard · MET+ = met or exceeded ("proficient") · Source: CA Dept. of Education · CAASPP 2024–25 · n=5,721 elementary schools · Vintages: climate subgroups 2019+2025 · district finance per its label · ACS 2022 · Data updated 2026-09-27

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

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