Foster City Elementary: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.
Foster City pairs 75% proficiency with gains that hold up when the same students are tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 72 | 49% | 75% | +9.1 | 8.1% | 0.5% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Foster City Elementary scores 72 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 93rd 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “75% proficient” and call it done. Foster City deserves a closer read. It sits at the 93rd percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
The headline number: 49.3% of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 93rd-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 75% meet the standard today, versus 82% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 81% | 81% | 75% | 71% | 65% |
| Grade 4 | 75% | 82% | 71% | 68% | 76% |
| Grade 5 | 84% | 81% | 84% | 83% | 80% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 90% | 85% | 79% | 77% | 75% |
| Grade 4 | 81% | 85% | 80% | 80% | 75% |
| Grade 5 | 82% | 80% | 80% | 82% | 78% |
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 5.1pp across grades; the floor rises 15.1pp. 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 changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find 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 Foster City Elementary in Foster City, 43.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 26.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Foster City Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 17.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (53.1% Math proficient); Asian students (81.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 26.2 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 32 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (13.8% vs 4.4%). 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.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$1,001 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), 56% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Foster City Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Foster City Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Foster City Elementary rank in California?
Is Foster City Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Foster City Elementary?
How does Foster City Elementary compare to other schools in Foster City?
How does Foster City Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 83
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 79
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 | 111 | 39% | 26% | 14% | 21% | 65% | +21 |
| Grade 4 | 112 | 49% | 27% | 12% | 13% | 76% | +31 |
| Grade 5 | 105 | 44% | 36% | 11% | 9% | 80% | +32 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 112 | 51% | 24% | 13% | 12% | 75% | +29 |
| Grade 4 | 113 | 52% | 23% | 19% | 6% | 75% | +34 |
| Grade 5 | 105 | 61% | 17% | 14% | 8% | 78% | +43 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 105 | 30% | 26% | 37% | 7% |
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 | 32 | 43.8% | +17 | +6 |
| Asian | 164 | 81.7% | −1 | +7 |
| White | 77 | 68.8% | −3 | +7 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foster City Elementary ← | — | 72 | 49.3% | 74.8% | +9.1 | 0.5% |
| College Park Elementary | 1.5 mi | 91 | 61.2% | 82.7% | +2.6 | 0.1% |
| Central Elementary | 1.6 mi | 87 | 74.3% | 89.7% | −6.6 | 0.9% |
| Cipriani Elementary | 2.7 mi | 73 | 53.3% | 77.0% | +4.4 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 78 | 96 | #233 | 60.6% | 82.0% | 1.6% | 0.3% | -2.4pp |
| 2022 | 75 | 97 | #198 | 60.5% | 82.4% | 18.7% | 0.1% | -2.3pp |
| 2023 | 80 | 97 | #151 | 58.1% | 78.1% | 10.9% | 0.0% | +5.3pp |
| 2024 | 71 | 92 | #438 | 53.5% | 76.9% | 9.4% | 0.4% | +8.7pp |
| 2025 | 72 | 93 | #416 | 49.3% | 74.8% | 8.1% | 0.5% | +9.1pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 1.0% | 8.1% | +7.1pp |
| Male | 2.0% | 7.5% | +5.5pp |
| Asian | 1.4% | 5.3% | +3.9pp |
| White | 0.0% | 5.9% | +5.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 2.8% | 14.1% | +11.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 2.3% | 5.3% | +3.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 6.2% | 14.3% | +8.1pp |
| English Learners | 2.6% | 18.3% | +15.7pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.1% | 23.8% | +16.7pp |
| All Students | 1.5% | 7.7% | +6.2pp |
| Filipino | — | 7.1% | — |
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