Ferndale Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Ferndale posts 48% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43 | 22% | 48% | +12.8 | 9.0% | 3.4% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Ferndale Elementary scores 43 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 52nd 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 “48% proficient” and call it done. Ferndale deserves a closer read. The school sits in Ferndale, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 9.0% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 36th to the 52nd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 800 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 48% of students meet the standard today, above the 37% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 37% | 48% | 46% | 67% | 32% |
| Grade 4 | 32% | 18% | 47% | 45% | 50% |
| Grade 5 | 43% | 40% | 40% | 38% | 52% |
| Grade 6 | 39% | 56% | 55% | 39% | 46% |
| Grade 7 | 33% | 52% | 49% | 56% | 61% |
| Grade 8 | 42% | 44% | 32% | 47% | 70% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 45% | 50% | 41% | 55% | 39% |
| Grade 4 | 38% | 37% | 50% | 45% | 69% |
| Grade 5 | 27% | 32% | 40% | 48% | 44% |
| Grade 6 | 27% | 41% | 38% | 36% | 46% |
| Grade 7 | 36% | 36% | 50% | 81% | 86% |
| Grade 8 | 48% | 31% | 29% | 67% | 70% |
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 5.4pp across grades; the floor rises 20.8pp. 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 how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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 Ferndale Elementary in Ferndale, 38.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Ferndale Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 1.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (47.1% Math proficient); White students (56.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 12.8 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 103 students tested.
8 of 13 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 18.7pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +18.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of TK/K students (9.9% vs 5.5%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
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
$1,404 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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 38% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ferndale Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Ferndale Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Ferndale Elementary rank in California?
Is Ferndale Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Ferndale Elementary?
How does Ferndale Elementary compare to other schools in Ferndale?
How does Ferndale Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
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 | 38 | 18% | 13% | 32% | 37% | 32% | −12 |
| Grade 4 | 36 | 33% | 17% | 22% | 28% | 50% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 42 | 24% | 29% | 12% | 36% | 52% | +4 |
| Grade 6 | 35 | 23% | 23% | 23% | 31% | 46% | −1 |
| Grade 7 | 36 | 14% | 47% | 28% | 11% | 61% | +13 |
| Grade 8 | 30 | 17% | 53% | 20% | 10% | 70% | +24 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 38 | 5% | 34% | 34% | 26% | 39% | −6 |
| Grade 4 | 36 | 28% | 42% | 22% | 8% | 69% | +28 |
| Grade 5 | 43 | 23% | 21% | 23% | 33% | 44% | +9 |
| Grade 6 | 35 | 29% | 17% | 34% | 20% | 46% | +11 |
| Grade 7 | 36 | 56% | 31% | 14% | 0% | 86% | +52 |
| Grade 8 | 30 | 63% | 7% | 17% | 13% | 70% | +38 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 72 | 19% | 18% | 54% | 8% |
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 | 103 | 38.8% | −2 | +1 |
| White | 155 | 56.1% | +1 | −6 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale Elementary ← | — | 43 | 22.0% | 47.8% | +12.8 | 3.4% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 37 | 36 | #3540 | 10.4% | 37.0% | 6.9% | 1.7% | -5.8pp |
| 2022 | 26 | 24 | #4378 | 12.8% | 37.6% | 22.4% | 2.7% | -13.0pp |
| 2023 | 36 | 42 | #3313 | 18.1% | 44.1% | 21.0% | 5.2% | -3.9pp |
| 2024 | 44 | 57 | #2482 | 26.4% | 49.5% | 12.7% | 4.3% | -17.6pp |
| 2025 | 43 | 52 | #2752 | 22.0% | 47.8% | 9.0% | 3.4% | +12.8pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.3% | 6.6% | -0.7pp |
| Male | 6.2% | 9.1% | +2.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 3.8% | 7.6% | +3.8pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 10.0% | 7.1% | -2.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.8% | 6.8% | -3.0pp |
| English Learners | 6.1% | 11.1% | +5.0pp |
| Homeless | 8.3% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.9% | 8.0% | +0.1pp |
| All Students | 6.8% | 7.8% | +1.0pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 8.3% | — |
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