Farber School of Independent Studies and Online: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Farber School of Independent Studies and Online posts 39% meeting the standard and 16.1% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44 | 16% | 39% | +3.4 | 76.5% | 0.5% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Farber School of Independent Studies and Online scores 44 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 54th 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 →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “39% proficient” and call it done. Farber School of Independent Studies and Online deserves a closer read. The school sits in Fresno, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 16th to the 54th percentile since 2022 — past roughly 2200 elementary schools.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 17% | 24% | 26% | 34% |
| Grade 4 | — | 20% | 19% | 33% | 38% |
| Grade 5 | — | 22% | 27% | 29% | 42% |
| Grade 6 | — | 21% | 28% | 43% | 36% |
| Grade 7 | — | 20% | 32% | 27% | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 21% | 20% | 30% | 24% | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 16% | 22% | 30% | 28% | 28% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 16% | 30% | 25% | 38% |
| Grade 4 | — | 12% | 12% | 31% | 44% |
| Grade 5 | — | 11% | 17% | 17% | 36% |
| Grade 6 | — | 10% | 21% | 25% | 41% |
| Grade 7 | — | 11% | 13% | 23% | 40% |
| Grade 8 | 0% | 5% | 9% | 21% | 31% |
| Grade 11 | 1% | 6% | 4% | 9% | 9% |
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 6.2pp across grades; the floor rises 7.8pp. 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 the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- 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 Farber School of Independent Studies and Online in Fresno, 31.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 34.0% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Farber School of Independent Studies and Online trails its district average for low-income students by 2.7 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (28.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (30.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 34.3 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 481 students tested.
8 of 16 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.
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 9.7pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +0.9pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (98.0% vs 37.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Farber School of Independent Studies and Online serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$637 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 976 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
On the state's science test (CAST), 18% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Farber School of Independent Studies and Online a good elementary school?
What are Farber School of Independent Studies and Online's CAASPP test scores?
How does Farber School of Independent Studies and Online rank in California?
Is Farber School of Independent Studies and Online getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Farber School of Independent Studies and Online?
How does Farber School of Independent Studies and Online compare to other schools in Fresno?
How does Farber School of Independent Studies and Online serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 49
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 | 32 | 9% | 25% | 22% | 44% | 34% | −9 |
| Grade 4 | 34 | 12% | 26% | 26% | 35% | 38% | −7 |
| Grade 5 | 45 | 16% | 27% | 18% | 40% | 42% | −6 |
| Grade 6 | 56 | 9% | 27% | 41% | 23% | 36% | −11 |
| Grade 7 | 86 | 5% | 31% | 21% | 43% | 36% | −12 |
| Grade 8 | 104 | 6% | 21% | 25% | 48% | 27% | −19 |
| Grade 11 | 151 | 8% | 21% | 20% | 52% | 28% | −19 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 32 | 25% | 13% | 25% | 38% | 38% | −8 |
| Grade 4 | 34 | 15% | 29% | 26% | 29% | 44% | +3 |
| Grade 5 | 44 | 20% | 16% | 27% | 36% | 36% | +1 |
| Grade 6 | 56 | 23% | 18% | 20% | 39% | 41% | +6 |
| Grade 7 | 81 | 28% | 11% | 14% | 47% | 40% | +6 |
| Grade 8 | 100 | 21% | 10% | 16% | 53% | 31% | −1 |
| Grade 11 | 135 | 4% | 4% | 14% | 77% | 9% | −14 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 368 | 5% | 13% | 61% | 21% |
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 | 481 | 31.3% | −3 | −7 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 357 | 30.2% | −5 | −9 |
| English Learners | 46 | 0.0% | −7 | −10 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farber School of Independent Studies and Online ← | — | 44 | 16.1% | 38.8% | +3.4 | 0.5% |
| Ezekiel Balderas Elementary | 1.5 mi | 50 | 16.7% | 36.5% | +0.9 | 1.5% |
| Jefferson Elementary | 1.3 mi | 50 | 33.9% | 56.8% | −18.3 | 3.8% |
| Burroughs Elementary | 1.1 mi | 47 | 19.2% | 39.2% | +8.2 | 2.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24 | 16 | #4803 | 4.9% | 16.5% | 60.0% | 0.4% | -0.0pp |
| 2023 | 26 | 16 | #4819 | 7.5% | 21.3% | 37.6% | 0.7% | -4.8pp |
| 2024 | 38 | 39 | #3503 | 9.7% | 26.9% | 33.4% | 0.8% | -2.4pp |
| 2025 | 44 | 54 | #2619 | 16.1% | 38.8% | 76.5% | 0.5% | +3.4pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 44.8% | 85.0% | +40.2pp |
| Male | 44.0% | 83.5% | +39.5pp |
| Asian | 50.0% | 77.6% | +27.6pp |
| Black/African American | 40.7% | 89.7% | +49.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 44.5% | 85.4% | +40.9pp |
| Two or More Races | 33.3% | 75.6% | +42.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 56.3% | 86.5% | +30.2pp |
| English Learners | 28.4% | 86.1% | +57.7pp |
| Foster Youth | 58.3% | 86.7% | +28.4pp |
| Homeless | 51.9% | 100.0% | +48.1pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 45.2% | 84.7% | +39.5pp |
| All Students | 44.4% | 84.4% | +40.0pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | — | 76.9% | — |
| Pacific Islander | — | 92.3% | — |
| Military-Connected | — | 75.0% | — |
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