Columbine Elementary: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.
Columbine pairs 54% proficiency with gains that hold up when the same students are tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 60 | 29% | 54% | +13.8 | 4.2% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Columbine Elementary scores 60 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 82nd 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “54% proficient” and call it done. Columbine deserves a closer read. The school sits in Delano, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Columbine's low-income kids hit 78.4% 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.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 71st to the 82nd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 500 elementary schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 54% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 55% | 43% | 54% | 62% | 50% |
| Grade 4 | 67% | 45% | 52% | 61% | 31% |
| Grade 5 | 57% | 67% | 52% | 59% | 70% |
| Grade 6 | 58% | 72% | 77% | 72% | 73% |
| Grade 7 | 73% | 89% | 67% | 86% | 83% |
| Grade 8 | 80% | 76% | 95% | 88% | 82% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 50% | 35% | 54% | 69% | 57% |
| Grade 4 | 57% | 30% | 39% | 57% | 54% |
| Grade 5 | 48% | 57% | 33% | 41% | 65% |
| Grade 6 | 58% | 56% | 77% | 78% | 64% |
| Grade 7 | 64% | 67% | 61% | 82% | 67% |
| Grade 8 | 67% | 59% | 63% | 69% | 82% |
Columbine's most underrated number
78.4% 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 changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find it.
- 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 Columbine Elementary in Delano, 78.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 78.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Columbine Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (70.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (63.9% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 37 students tested.
6 of 11 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$604 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 172 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), 49% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Columbine Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Columbine Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Columbine Elementary rank in California?
Is Columbine Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Columbine Elementary?
How does Columbine Elementary compare to other schools in Delano?
How does Columbine Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 42
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 50
Nearby High Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 41
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 | 14 | 43% | 7% | 29% | 21% | 50% | +7 |
| Grade 4 | 13 | 23% | 8% | 31% | 38% | 31% | −14 |
| Grade 5 | 23 | 22% | 48% | 17% | 13% | 70% | +22 |
| Grade 6 | 22 | 45% | 27% | 27% | 0% | 73% | +26 |
| Grade 7 | 18 | 33% | 50% | 11% | 6% | 83% | +36 |
| Grade 8 | 22 | 50% | 32% | 14% | 5% | 82% | +36 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 14 | 29% | 29% | 7% | 36% | 57% | +11 |
| Grade 4 | 13 | 15% | 38% | 38% | 8% | 54% | +12 |
| Grade 5 | 23 | 43% | 22% | 26% | 9% | 65% | +30 |
| Grade 6 | 22 | 45% | 18% | 23% | 14% | 64% | +29 |
| Grade 7 | 18 | 39% | 28% | 22% | 11% | 67% | +33 |
| Grade 8 | 22 | 45% | 36% | 0% | 18% | 82% | +50 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 45 | 13% | 36% | 49% | 2% |
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 | 37 | 78.4% | +0 | +40 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 97 | 63.9% | +0 | +25 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbine Elementary ← | — | 60 | 29.2% | 54.4% | +13.8 | 0.4% |
| Morningside | 2 mi | 49 | 21.8% | 44.0% | +1.9 | 0.5% |
| Princeton Street Elementary | 2.5 mi | 40 | 13.8% | 31.3% | −10.5 | 2.0% |
| Wonderful College Prep Academy | 2.1 mi | 38 | 14.5% | 36.9% | −6.3 | 6.8% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 53 | 71 | #1596 | 26.7% | 55.6% | 0.4% | 0.1% | -0.1pp |
| 2022 | 60 | 87 | #734 | 21.2% | 46.2% | 4.4% | 0.5% | +22.8pp |
| 2023 | 41 | 55 | #2558 | 19.7% | 47.6% | 2.5% | 0.1% | -11.3pp |
| 2024 | 61 | 84 | #919 | 25.5% | 58.0% | 5.9% | 1.2% | -15.4pp |
| 2025 | 60 | 82 | #1056 | 29.2% | 54.4% | 4.2% | 0.4% | +13.8pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Male | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| English Learners | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Military-Connected | 0.0% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| All Students | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Asian | — | 0.0% | — |
| Students with Disabilities | — | 0.0% | — |
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