Fries Avenue Elementary: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Fries Avenue posts 27.1% meeting the standard — versus 42.7% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 47 | 13% | 27% | +2.9 | 23.7% | 0.2% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Fries Avenue Elementary scores 47 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 61st 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 “27% proficient” and call it done. Fries Avenue deserves a closer read. The school sits in Wilmington, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: +2.9pp separates this year's grade 3 from its grade 5. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G3 → 2025 G5 points the same way.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 40th to the 61st percentile since 2019 — past roughly 1100 elementary schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 27% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 24% | 11% | 14% | 13% | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 18% | 13% | 23% | 40% | 24% |
| Grade 5 | 32% | 13% | 23% | 19% | 35% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 34% | 18% | 20% | 14% | 37% |
| Grade 4 | 22% | 10% | 26% | 28% | 24% |
| Grade 5 | 26% | 12% | 11% | 17% | 25% |
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 16.4pp across grades; the floor rises 17.9pp. 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 how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- 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 Fries Avenue Elementary in Wilmington, 25.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Fries Avenue Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 15.7 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (25.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (24.8% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 16.4 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 127 students tested.
7 of 14 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 16.8pp 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 three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (40.0% vs 12.3%). 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
$4,152 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), 25% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fries Avenue Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Fries Avenue Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Fries Avenue Elementary rank in California?
Is Fries Avenue Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Fries Avenue Elementary?
How does Fries Avenue Elementary compare to other schools in Wilmington?
How does Fries Avenue Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 64
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 45
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 66
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 | 35 | 9% | 9% | 31% | 51% | 17% | −26 |
| Grade 4 | 62 | 8% | 16% | 27% | 48% | 24% | −21 |
| Grade 5 | 40 | 25% | 10% | 23% | 43% | 35% | −13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 35 | 9% | 29% | 17% | 46% | 37% | −9 |
| Grade 4 | 63 | 10% | 14% | 29% | 48% | 24% | −18 |
| Grade 5 | 40 | 20% | 5% | 13% | 63% | 25% | −10 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 40 | 3% | 23% | 35% | 40% |
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 | 127 | 25.2% | −16 | −13 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 125 | 24.8% | −16 | −14 |
| Students with Disabilities | 34 | 11.8% | −4 | −5 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fries Avenue Elementary ← | — | 47 | 13.3% | 27.1% | +2.9 | 0.2% |
| Park Western Place Elementary | 3.3 mi | 71 | 40.5% | 67.4% | +0.9 | 0.1% |
| Taper Avenue Elementary | 2.7 mi | 63 | 33.1% | 62.1% | −1.5 | 0.1% |
| Two Hundred Thirty-Second Place | 2 mi | 58 | 37.2% | 64.0% | −18.3 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 38 | 40 | #3318 | 9.7% | 26.1% | 26.6% | 0.0% | +0.4pp |
| 2022 | 25 | 19 | #4632 | 2.7% | 12.8% | 41.9% | 0.0% | -2.0pp |
| 2023 | 28 | 21 | #4495 | 5.5% | 19.5% | 32.1% | 0.0% | +0.2pp |
| 2024 | 37 | 37 | #3617 | 9.0% | 21.7% | 20.5% | 0.4% | +5.2pp |
| 2025 | 47 | 61 | #2253 | 13.3% | 27.1% | 23.7% | 0.2% | +2.9pp |
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 13 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 29.3% | 22.1% | -7.2pp |
| Male | 24.6% | 25.9% | +1.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 26.4% | 22.4% | -4.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 29.9% | 31.3% | +1.4pp |
| English Learners | 23.5% | 14.3% | -9.2pp |
| Homeless | 50.0% | 36.4% | -13.6pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 26.8% | 24.4% | -2.4pp |
| All Students | 26.9% | 24.3% | -2.6pp |
| Filipino | — | 50.0% | — |
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