Central Elementary: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Central posts low test scores — and grade 5 tests above grade 3 here this year, by 11.6pp. 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 | 33 | 11% | 25% | +11.6 | 28.8% | 6.0% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Central Elementary scores 33 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 23rd 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 →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “25% proficient” and call it done. Central deserves a closer read. The school sits in National City, where four in five 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 35th to the 23rd percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 25% meet the standard today, versus 34% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 36% | 18% | 40% | 29% | 25% |
| Grade 4 | 34% | 31% | 18% | 34% | 20% |
| Grade 5 | 43% | 29% | 29% | 19% | 45% |
| Grade 6 | 58% | 54% | 38% | 46% | 39% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 34% | 15% | 36% | 32% | 24% |
| Grade 4 | 30% | 19% | 14% | 35% | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 27% | 14% | 19% | 12% | 27% |
| Grade 6 | 35% | 21% | 28% | 28% | 26% |
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 typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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 Central Elementary in National City, 32.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 31.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Central Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 0.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (22.4% Math proficient); Hispanic students (30.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 20.8 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 242 students tested.
6 of 14 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 19.0pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +5.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (41.0% vs 23.6%). 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 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 people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$728 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), 32% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Central Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Central Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Central Elementary rank in California?
Is Central Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Central Elementary?
How does Central Elementary compare to other schools in National City?
How does Central Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 53
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 29
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 | 61 | 8% | 16% | 34% | 41% | 25% | −19 |
| Grade 4 | 64 | 9% | 11% | 17% | 63% | 20% | −24 |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 19% | 27% | 16% | 39% | 45% | −3 |
| Grade 6 | 79 | 10% | 29% | 27% | 34% | 39% | −7 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 62 | 8% | 16% | 39% | 37% | 24% | −22 |
| Grade 4 | 66 | 3% | 8% | 38% | 52% | 11% | −31 |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 19% | 8% | 33% | 41% | 27% | −9 |
| Grade 6 | 81 | 5% | 21% | 28% | 46% | 26% | −9 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 63 | 8% | 24% | 48% | 21% |
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 | 242 | 32.6% | +1 | −6 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 225 | 30.2% | −0 | −9 |
| English Learners | 126 | 11.1% | +1 | +1 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Elementary ← | — | 33 | 11.0% | 25.3% | +11.6 | 6.0% |
| Nye Elementary | 2.3 mi | 64 | 35.2% | 69.8% | +7.2 | 1.1% |
| John A. Otis Elementary | 0.5 mi | 49 | 14.6% | 30.9% | +18.3 | 1.3% |
| The O'Farrell Charter | 2.7 mi | 46 | 25.8% | 52.6% | −14.9 | 1.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 37 | 35 | #3555 | 12.7% | 34.0% | 11.7% | 0.5% | +0.4pp |
| 2022 | 29 | 31 | #3960 | 5.9% | 21.2% | 49.4% | 0.4% | +5.2pp |
| 2023 | 24 | 11 | #5116 | 8.2% | 25.9% | 41.3% | 1.2% | -13.7pp |
| 2024 | 34 | 29 | #4061 | 9.6% | 27.0% | 33.8% | 0.9% | -15.4pp |
| 2025 | 33 | 23 | #4409 | 11.0% | 25.3% | 28.8% | 6.0% | +11.6pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.2% | 28.4% | +21.2pp |
| Male | 15.6% | 30.9% | +15.3pp |
| Asian | 9.1% | — | — |
| White | 8.3% | 13.3% | +5.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 12.4% | 30.8% | +18.4pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 20.0% | 39.1% | +19.1pp |
| English Learners | 11.6% | 30.2% | +18.6pp |
| Homeless | 15.6% | 41.9% | +26.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 10.8% | 29.9% | +19.1pp |
| All Students | 11.7% | 29.7% | +18.0pp |
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