Del Mar Hills Elementary: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Del Mar Hills posts 54.1% 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 | 79 | 54% | 81% | +8.8 | 9.0% | 1.7% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Del Mar Hills Elementary scores 79 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 97th 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 →
⭐ 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.
Most rating sites would stop at “81% proficient” and call it done. Del Mar Hills deserves a closer read. It sits at the 97th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
The headline number: 54.1% of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 97th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 81% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 77% | 68% | 72% | 66% | 81% |
| Grade 4 | 88% | 71% | 71% | 69% | 68% |
| Grade 5 | 90% | 86% | 78% | 81% | 90% |
| Grade 6 | 92% | 78% | 78% | 83% | 72% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 84% | 78% | 80% | 74% | 84% |
| Grade 4 | 79% | 80% | 81% | 83% | 72% |
| Grade 5 | 81% | 81% | 84% | 88% | 93% |
| Grade 6 | 87% | 82% | 68% | 77% | 80% |
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 rises 10.9pp across grades; the floor rises 8.3pp. The state average rises 4.5pp 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
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 Del Mar Hills Elementary in Del Mar, 76.4% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 79.9% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Del Mar Hills Elementary trails its district average for white students by 3.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (86.1% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 72 students tested.
7 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
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (13.5% vs 5.7%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$95 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 224 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
On the state's science test (CAST), 79% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Del Mar Hills Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Del Mar Hills Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Del Mar Hills Elementary rank in California?
Is Del Mar Hills Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Del Mar Hills Elementary?
How does Del Mar Hills Elementary compare to other schools in Del Mar?
How does Del Mar Hills Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 86
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 | 43 | 51% | 30% | 9% | 9% | 81% | +38 |
| Grade 4 | 31 | 45% | 23% | 23% | 10% | 68% | +23 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 62% | 28% | 3% | 7% | 90% | +42 |
| Grade 6 | 25 | 48% | 24% | 16% | 12% | 72% | +25 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 43 | 51% | 33% | 14% | 2% | 84% | +38 |
| Grade 4 | 32 | 56% | 16% | 25% | 3% | 72% | +30 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 59% | 34% | 0% | 7% | 93% | +58 |
| Grade 6 | 25 | 56% | 24% | 12% | 8% | 80% | +45 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 29 | 38% | 41% | 17% | 3% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 72 | 76.4% | −3 | +15 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Del Mar Hills Elementary ← | — | 79 | 54.1% | 81.3% | +8.8 | 1.7% |
| Carmel Del Mar Elementary | 1.4 mi | 92 | 66.8% | 87.5% | +1.6 | 0.4% |
| Ocean Air | 2.6 mi | 87 | 67.5% | 89.2% | −6.5 | 0.1% |
| Del Mar Heights Elementary | 0.6 mi | 80 | 59.5% | 86.0% | −0.1 | 1.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 79 | 96 | #210 | 55.9% | 83.1% | 8.4% | 0.0% | +5.4pp |
| 2022 | 75 | 97 | #187 | 52.1% | 77.4% | 10.6% | 1.9% | +10.5pp |
| 2023 | 73 | 94 | #318 | 50.7% | 77.5% | 16.2% | 0.6% | +4.8pp |
| 2024 | 73 | 94 | #344 | 47.1% | 76.8% | 9.4% | 2.0% | +14.3pp |
| 2025 | 79 | 97 | #167 | 54.1% | 81.3% | 9.0% | 1.7% | +8.8pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 5.5% | 10.6% | +5.1pp |
| Male | 11.0% | 5.1% | -5.9pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 15.3% | 14.0% | -1.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 8.7% | 11.1% | +2.4pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 16.7% | 20.0% | +3.3pp |
| English Learners | 11.1% | 8.3% | -2.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 21.3% | 29.2% | +7.9pp |
| All Students | 8.3% | 7.7% | -0.6pp |
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