Dyer-Kelly Elementary: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Dyer-Kelly posts low test scores — and test scores are one lens among several. 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 | 18 | 1% | 8% | -1.9 | 21.3% | 1.7% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Dyer-Kelly Elementary scores 18 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 2nd 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 →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “8% proficient” and call it done. Dyer-Kelly deserves a closer read. The school sits in Sacramento, 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
Has stayed near the 2nd percentile since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 8% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 17% | 11% | 12% | 8% | 7% |
| Grade 4 | 7% | 5% | 12% | 8% | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 9% | 17% | 12% | 10% | 8% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 19% | 11% | 16% | 10% | 8% |
| Grade 4 | 6% | 1% | 4% | 4% | 7% |
| Grade 5 | 5% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 3% |
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 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 Dyer-Kelly Elementary in Sacramento, 8.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 29.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Dyer-Kelly Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 20.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (6.0% Math proficient); English Learner students (3.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 5.7 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 324 students tested.
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 1.6pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (29.3% vs 12.1%). 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 follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$1,611 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 735 students, this school is well above 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), 3% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dyer-Kelly Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Dyer-Kelly Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Dyer-Kelly Elementary rank in California?
Is Dyer-Kelly Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Dyer-Kelly Elementary?
How does Dyer-Kelly Elementary compare to other schools in Sacramento?
How does Dyer-Kelly Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 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.
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 | 122 | 1% | 6% | 22% | 71% | 7% | −37 |
| Grade 4 | 114 | 2% | 11% | 16% | 71% | 13% | −32 |
| Grade 5 | 107 | 1% | 7% | 14% | 78% | 8% | −39 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 132 | 2% | 7% | 24% | 67% | 8% | −37 |
| Grade 4 | 121 | 1% | 7% | 21% | 72% | 7% | −34 |
| Grade 5 | 116 | 1% | 2% | 16% | 82% | 3% | −33 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 116 | 2% | 2% | 38% | 59% |
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 | 324 | 8.6% | −20 | −30 |
| English Learners | 219 | 3.7% | −2 | −7 |
| Asian | 153 | 7.2% | −22 | −67 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dyer-Kelly Elementary ← | — | 18 | 1.1% | 7.8% | −1.9 | 1.7% |
| James R. Cowan Fundamental Elementary | 2 mi | 55 | 26.2% | 49.0% | +20.7 | 4.1% |
| Bell Avenue Elementary | 1.8 mi | 35 | 7.3% | 32.1% | +8.9 | 2.7% |
| Thomas Edison Language Institute K-8 | 2.5 mi | 33 | 7.0% | 22.3% | −0.6 | 6.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 20 | 3 | #5347 | 1.5% | 10.4% | 15.3% | 0.2% | -11.0pp |
| 2022 | 21 | 11 | #5100 | 2.0% | 8.3% | 42.4% | 0.3% | -0.4pp |
| 2023 | 22 | 7 | #5309 | 2.5% | 10.0% | 29.4% | 0.7% | -5.5pp |
| 2024 | 18 | 2 | #5619 | 1.5% | 7.3% | 27.8% | 1.4% | -2.0pp |
| 2025 | 18 | 2 | #5638 | 1.1% | 7.8% | 21.3% | 1.7% | -1.9pp |
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 30 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 16.2% | 20.5% | +4.3pp |
| Male | 14.7% | 22.1% | +7.4pp |
| Asian | 8.1% | 12.6% | +4.5pp |
| Black/African American | 31.7% | 39.1% | +7.4pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 19.9% | 36.9% | +17.0pp |
| Two or More Races | 20.8% | 17.4% | -3.4pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 31.8% | 29.1% | -2.7pp |
| English Learners | 8.3% | 16.4% | +8.1pp |
| Homeless | 31.0% | 29.7% | -1.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 15.5% | 21.3% | +5.8pp |
| All Students | 15.4% | 21.4% | +6.0pp |
| Pacific Islander | — | 18.2% | — |
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