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Daves Avenue Elementary · Los GatosPublic

Daves Avenue Elementary: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.

Daves Avenue posts 57.5% exceeding the standard — versus 21.4% 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.

17770 Daves Avenue, 95030 (opens in new tab)·Los Gatos Union Elementary·Los Gatos·Grades TK-5·549 students·5% low-income·2024–25 CAASPP·(408) 335-2200·Website
Scope Score
81
Strong High Ceiling
ranked #86 statewide · #1 of 4 in Los Gatos Union Elementary
299 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · cohort of 91 tracked

Daves Avenue Elementary scores 81 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 99th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →

High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.

CDE CAASPP 2025

Most rating sites would stop at “84% proficient” and call it done. Daves Avenue deserves a closer read. It sits at the 99th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.

The headline number: 57.5% of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.4%.

The zoned path
  1. This school
    81/100Strong
    elementary scale
  2. Raymond J. Fisher Middle
    72/100Strong
    middle scale
Not zoned here?

3 nearby elementary schools — see all options →

  1. This school
    Public
    81Strong
  2. Alta Vista Elementary
    2.2 mi · Public
    80Strong
  3. Marshall Lane Elementary
    1.8 mi · Charter
    76Strong
  4. Forest Hill Elementary
    2.4 mi · Charter
    76Strong
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope8139
% Exceeded57%21%
% Met+84%43%
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)Strong · p94Average · p50
Absence5.8%17.9%
Suspension0.1%1.6%

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide

Has held the 99th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.

CA Dashboard
ELABlue(Increased)MathBlue(Increased)

Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 84% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 386%79%78%78%76%
Grade 481%78%77%78%84%
Grade 580%79%85%84%92%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 387%74%78%82%81%
Grade 478%69%77%78%84%
Grade 574%68%60%81%83%

Where its students land

ELA
Exceeded 58%Met 26%Nearly Met 11%Not Met 5%
Math
Exceeded 57%Met 26%Nearly Met 13%Not Met 4%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded

The school, grade by grade

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.

53%
22%
25%
Grade 3 · 75% proficient
57%
27%
16%
Grade 4 · 84% proficient
64%
28%
8%
Grade 5 · 92% proficient

The honest read: the share exceeding rises 10.5pp across grades; the floor rises 16.6pp. The state average rises 4.6pp over the same span. Kids here gain ground the longer they stay — the pattern you want to see. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
57.5%
State 21.4%
36.1pp above state avg
Met or exceeded
83.5%
State 42.7%
40.8pp above state avg
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)
Strong
State average
The school's returning cohort — mostly, not exactly, the same kids two years on — gained 91 scale-score points across the span. Almost every school gains points, so we rank the gain against every other California school in this level.
Chronic absenteeism
5.8%
State 17.9%
12.1pp below state avg
Suspension rate
0.1%
State 1.6%
1.5pp below state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
31.1%
State 18.0%
13.1pp above state avg
The returning cohort, two years on
ELA · 2023 · Grade 3
49%
exceeded standard · 78% met or exceeded
ELA · 2025 · Grade 5
64%
exceeded standard · 92% met or exceeded

Percent exceeded, ELA only. SchoolScope's scored growth measure uses a different metric — mean scale-score change across ELA and Math; California's own matched-student model is below.

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model, following individual children in grades 4 through 8 rather than comparing school-wide averages the way we do. The two measures land in the same neighbourhood here — ours puts this school around the 94th percentile of California elementary schools, the state's around the 98th in reading and math together. Two different methods agreeing is the most you can ask of one year of test data.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
Our growth measurereturning cohort, G3→G5SchoolScope growth measure: 94th percentile among California elementary schools.94th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +26 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 98th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.98th pctile · +26 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +28 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 98th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.98th pctile · +28 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

— 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.

Worth a school visit

Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.

  • Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
  • 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 Daves Avenue Elementary in Los Gatos, 85.8% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 78.1% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Daves Avenue Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 7.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (84.6% Math proficient); Asian students (86.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 9.6 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 155 students tested.

All students at this school: 84% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 84%, district —, state 43%84%
FemaleFemale: this school 84%, district 80%, state 44%84% · −0 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 85%, district 76%, state 56%85% · +2 vs school
MaleMale: this school 84%, district 77%, state 42%84% · +0 vs school
AsianAsian: this school 89%, district 89%, state 72%89% · +6 vs school
Two or More RacesTwo or More Races: this school 87%, district 81%, state 56%87% · +3 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 70%, district 55%, state 32%70% · −14 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 36%, district 39%, state 11%36% · −47 vs school

5 of 13 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
Subgroup growth by grade

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.

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 Only143 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +27 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 143 students.+27 pts · +24 vs typical
White106 studentsWhite, reading: +29 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 106 students.+29 pts · +24 vs typical
Asian34 studentsAsian, reading: +16 scale-score points versus expectation, against +7 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 34 students.+16 pts · +9 vs typical
English Learner31 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: +27 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 31 students.+27 pts · +29 vs typical
Math
English Only143 studentsEnglish Only, math: +27 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 143 students.+27 pts · +26 vs typical
White106 studentsWhite, math: +28 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 106 students.+28 pts · +23 vs typical
Asian34 studentsAsian, math: +38 scale-score points versus expectation, against +16 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 34 students.+38 pts · +22 vs typical
English Learner31 studentsEnglish Learner, math: +30 scale-score points versus expectation, against +2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 31 students.+30 pts · +28 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 6 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.

Showing up, and staying in class

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 5.8%, district 6.2%, state 17.9%5.8% · −12.1pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 0.1%, district —, state 1.6%0.1% · −1.5pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–66.2%
TK/K7.0%

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path
Elementary
Daves Avenue Elementary
81/100
This school
▼
High School
No feeder data available for this level

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

Planning ahead? 1 licensed preschools near this school →

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 24:1, district 21:124:1
PrincipalDavid Freed
Teaching staff23 teachers
Avg. experience19.0 years
Fully credentialed100%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$83,194 – $159,362
Principal salaryFrom $220,075
Superintendent salary$370,846

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $19,954, CA average $14,491$19,954 · spent at this school
Federal share$80 per student

$80 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$22,341 per student

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction69%
Instruction support9%
Student services5%
Administration9%
Buildings & maintenance9%

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

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$16,677 per pupil
2019$14,033 per pupil
2018$14,289 per pupil
2017$12,802 per pupil
2016$11,859 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
White49.0%
District 47.8% · CA 19.9%
Asian21.1%
District 28.4% · CA 10.2%
Other17.7%
District 12.9% · CA 9.0%
Hispanic11.3%
District 9.8% · CA 56.1%
Black0.9%
District 1.0% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 5.3% (59pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$250K · CA $85K
Median home value$2.00M · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+80% · CA 35%
ZIP population13,151
Median age52 years

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

Worth Knowing

Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.

On the state's science test (CAST), 81% 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.

Frequently asked questions

Is Daves Avenue Elementary a good elementary school?

Daves Avenue Elementary has a Scope Score of 81 out of 100, placing it in the 99th percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #86 statewide. 57.5% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 36.1 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 Daves Avenue Elementary's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 83.5% of students at Daves Avenue Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 57.5% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 26.0% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 57.5% 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. 599 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Daves Avenue Elementary rank in California?

Daves Avenue Elementary ranks #86 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 99th percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), same-cohort growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5), 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.

Is Daves Avenue Elementary getting better or worse?

SchoolScope follows the same cohort of students across grades rather than comparing two different grades in the same year. At Daves Avenue Elementary that cohort is 2023 G3 → 2025 G5, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks strong among California elementary schools — roughly the 94th percentile, ahead of the typical school at this level. Read the ranking, not the raw point gain: scale scores rise with age, so nearly every school posts a positive number and only the relative position tells you anything. Growth is weighted at 20% in the elementary Scope Score because it is the least demographically confounded signal available — it tracks change over time rather than the level students arrived at. See full methodology.

What is the attendance and school culture like at Daves Avenue Elementary?

5.8% of students at Daves Avenue 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 0.1%, 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 Daves Avenue Elementary compare to other schools in Los Gatos?

Daves Avenue Elementary scores 81/100 (99th 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 549 students. Use the schools in Los Gatos page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.

How does Daves Avenue Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Daves Avenue Elementary in Los Gatos, 85.8% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 78.1% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Daves Avenue Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 7.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (84.6% Math proficient); Asian students (86.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 9.6 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 155 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.

What middle school does Daves Avenue Elementary feed into?

By attendance boundary, Daves Avenue Elementary is zoned to Raymond J. Fisher Middle. Raymond J. Fisher Middle has a Scope Score of 72 out of 100. Boundaries come from the U.S. Department of Education's School Attendance Boundary Survey, a 2015-16 collection and the most recent national one — they are approximate and may since have changed. A boundary is also not a placement guarantee: magnet, charter, open-enrollment and inter-district transfer options mean students from one school often continue to several different ones. Confirm your address with the district before making an enrollment or housing decision. Data source: NCES School Attendance Boundary Survey, analyzed by SchoolScope.

Your other options

All schools in Los Gatos →

Private alternatives nearby

Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.

For the data nerds

Every number on this page

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

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Exceeded standard · 42%
57.5%
↑ vs CA 21.4% · index 85 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded · 23%
83.5%
↑ vs CA 42.7% · index 81 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5) · 20%
Strong
↑ vs CA average · 94th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
5.8%
↑ vs CA 17.9% · index 70 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▲ 1.1pp higher vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
0.1%
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 63 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
→ no change vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
31.1%
↑ vs CA 18.0% · index 69 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 39453%22%18%6%76%+32
Grade 410357%27%9%7%84%+40
Grade 510264%28%7%1%92%+44
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 39552%29%15%4%81%+36
Grade 410357%27%11%5%84%+43
Grade 510262%22%15%2%83%+48

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

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide10251%30%19%0%

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
White15585.8%+8+24
Asian6186.9%−0+13
Two or More Races4588.9%+7+27
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
Daves Avenue Elementary ←—8157.5%83.5%+9.5pp+91 pts0.1%
Alta Vista Elementary2.2 mi8060.1%80.5%+5.5pp—0.4%
Marshall Lane Elementary1.8 mi7663.7%85.8%+3.9pp—0.5%
Forest Hill Elementary2.4 mi7660.0%81.0%+8.0pp—1.1%
California average—3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp—1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20197494#32749.9%81.0%0.6%0.1%-9.7pp
20227092#46744.0%74.4%2.0%0.1%-3.0pp
20237394#35150.6%75.8%15.5%0.1%-5.5pp
20247797#15150.5%80.1%4.7%0.1%+2.5pp
20258199#8657.5%83.5%5.8%0.1%+9.5pp
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
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
Group20192025Δ
Female0.0%4.7%+4.7pp
Male0.0%5.6%+5.6pp
Asian0.0%3.4%+3.4pp
Hispanic/Latino0.0%4.8%+4.8pp
Two or More Races0.0%4.4%+4.4pp
White0.0%6.5%+6.5pp
Students with Disabilities0.0%8.3%+8.3pp
English Learners0.0%5.3%+5.3pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged0.0%11.1%+11.1pp
All Students0.0%5.2%+5.2pp
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+26194Exceptional+28194Exceptional
English Only+27143not categorised+27143not categorised
White+29106Exceptional+28106Exceptional
Asian+1634Accelerated+3834Exceptional
English Learner+2731Exceptional+3031Exceptional
Hispanic or Latino+1925Accelerated+1325Accelerated
Two or More Races+2521Exceptional+1821Accelerated
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only+3418not categorised+3118not categorised
Students with Disabilities+2114Exceptional+3414Exceptional
English Learners Only+1313not categorised+3013not categorised
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+2513Exceptional+2413Exceptional

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 2026-09-07methodology · data updates · CSV · report issue

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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