Excel Academy Charter: Low-income kids here outscore the state by 19 points. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.
Excel Academy Charter posts numbers for its most vulnerable students that most schools don't reach overall. The trend line is the part worth a closer look.
Excel Academy Charter scores 56 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 78th 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 →
Most rating sites would stop at “58% proficient” and call it done. Excel Academy Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Irvine, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 2.1% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
As a charter, Excel Academy Charter enrolls by application, not address — the score reads the same, the enrollment path doesn't.
The story this school is actually telling
chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
math proficiency runs 64% in grade 3 against 49% in grade 5, while reading holds (55% to 66%). The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
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 falls 6.2pp across grades; the floor rises 10.3pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The school's 5th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 3rd graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Excel Academy Charter's most underrated number
57.3% 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 the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. The trajectory is the thing a tour will tell you more about than a spreadsheet.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — 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.
Your other options
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
The community around it
Student demographics
3 more gaps by subject
Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.
Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.
Subgroup Growth by Grade
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 9.1pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -10.3pp.
Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Funding Breakdown
Neighborhood Context
Whole Child
Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25
For the data nerdsEvery number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
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 | 83 | 39% | 17% | 29% | 16% | 55% | +12 |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 30% | 26% | 19% | 25% | 56% | +11 |
| Grade 5 | 102 | 32% | 33% | 22% | 13% | 66% | +18 |
| Grade 6 | 84 | 25% | 42% | 19% | 14% | 67% | +20 |
| Grade 7 | 80 | 26% | 40% | 24% | 10% | 66% | +19 |
| Grade 8 | 78 | 31% | 40% | 15% | 14% | 71% | +24 |
| Grade 11 | 45 | 42% | 31% | 18% | 9% | 73% | +26 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 83 | 36% | 28% | 20% | 16% | 64% | +18 |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 35% | 21% | 25% | 19% | 56% | +14 |
| Grade 5 | 102 | 25% | 25% | 26% | 25% | 49% | +14 |
| Grade 6 | 84 | 31% | 23% | 24% | 23% | 54% | +19 |
| Grade 7 | 80 | 36% | 23% | 26% | 15% | 59% | +25 |
| Grade 8 | 78 | 50% | 19% | 18% | 13% | 69% | +37 |
| Grade 11 | 45 | 40% | 20% | 22% | 18% | 60% | +37 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 227 | 26% | 32% | 38% | 4% |
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 | 248 | 57.3% | +27 | +19 |
| White | 208 | 65.9% | — | +4 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 163 | 52.1% | +44 | +13 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excel Academy Charter ← | — | 56 | 32.6% | 57.6% | −2.3 | 0.1% |
| Oxford Preparatory Academy - Saddleback Valley | 2.3 mi | 78 | 53.1% | 78.7% | +6.7 | 0.1% |
| Solis Park | 1.2 mi | 65 | 43.9% | 70.4% | +16.4 | 1.1% |
| Excel Academy Charter | 0 mi | 47 | 23.8% | 44.7% | +0.8 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.