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Charter elementary school

Golden Valley Orchard

Orangevale, CA · Grades TK-8 · 292 students · San Juan Unified

The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.

43% of tested students are Proficient or Advanced in English and 19% in math. Explore the evidence alongside the opportunities your child would use.

SchoolScope archetype

Building Momentum

What this means for your family

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.

How archetypes are assigned →

Math

19%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

English

43%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

Students

292

Total enrollment

Chronic absence

21%

Students absent 10% or more of school days

What are you trying to decide?

The overall score is a starting point.

Look at subject results, trends and student groups, then consider the opportunities your child would use.

View school performance →

Academic performance

What do the results tell us?

2025 results · Grades 3 & 5 · weighted by students tested within each subject.

Proficient or Advanced combines Levels 3 and 4, formerly Standard Met and Standard Exceeded. California changed the names for 2025–26; the cut scores did not. About the labels →

Share at Proficient or Advanced

0%25%50%75%100%2019: 25%2022: 20%2023: 23%2024: 9%2025: 19%2019: 50%2022: 41%2023: 57%2024: 29%2025: 43%201920222023202420250%25%50%75%100%2019: 25%2022: 20%2023: 23%2024: 9%2025: 19%2019: 50%2022: 41%2023: 57%2024: 29%2025: 43%20192022202320242025
● Math┄ English

Gaps in the lines mark years without annual results.

Exact annual results
YearMathEnglish
201925%50%
202220%41%
202323%57%
20249%29%
202519%43%

Each year describes that year’s tested students. Changes between years do not follow the same children over time. Cohort-growth evidence, when available, is labeled separately below.

Annual results and the full academic record
Is it getting better · CAASPP 2019 to 2025

Slipped from the 38th to the 20th percentile since 2019.

Most rating sites would stop at “26% proficient” and call it done. Golden Valley Orchard deserves a closer read. One in four of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch (California: 64%) — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

Test scores are one lens, and at this school they're a rough one right now. The sections below show the fuller picture — including the parts that are working.

As a charter, Golden Valley Orchard enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.

150 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · no cohort tracked

Golden Valley Orchard scores 24 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 20th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 26% meet the standard today, versus 39% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide
Year detailsYear2019 · 38th percentile · Scope Score 31 of 1002022 · 35th percentile · Scope Score 26 of 1002023 · 43rd percentile · Scope Score 30 of 1002024 · 34th percentile · Scope Score 31 of 1002025 · 20th percentile · Scope Score 24 of 100
ELAYellow(Increased)MathOrange(Maintained)
ShowHide the by-grade tables, year by year
ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 342%32%53%15%32%
Grade 455%46%33%64%26%
Grade 558%50%62%41%52%
Grade 679%29%29%71%43%
Grade 776%70%46%22%76%
Grade 867%48%54%46%60%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 326%25%31%4%12%
Grade 428%25%37%46%12%
Grade 523%15%15%14%24%
Grade 661%25%17%42%43%
Grade 738%56%33%22%29%
Grade 858%33%45%35%20%
Where students land · CAASPP 2024–25

One in four of students here meet the standard. One in ten clear it by a lot.

ELA47% met or exceeded
Exceeded 15%Met 31%Nearly Met 25%Not Met 29%
Math23% met or exceeded
Exceeded 6%Met 17%Nearly Met 31%Not Met 46%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded
This school against the California average
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
Scope% Exceeded% Met+GrowthAbsenceSuspension
This school249%26%—20.7%4.1%
CA average · Elementary School3921%43%—17.9%1.6%
This schoolCA avg
Scope2439
% Exceeded9%21%
% Met+26%43%
Growth——
Absence20.7%17.9%
Suspension4.1%1.6%
California’s growth results and student groups
State growth model · CDE growth model 2024–25

California's own growth model splits here — the 89th percentile in reading against the 65th in math, among elementary schools.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits well above the middle of California elementary schools in reading, and the 65th in math. We show it; we don't score it.

— pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California elementary school lands at +2 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −5 and +9 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

California's growth model, ranked against the schools it scores
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +15 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 89th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.89th pctile · +15 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +6 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 65th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.65th pctile · +6 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

Students & opportunity

Who shares in the school’s results?

Who it works for · CAASPP 2024–25

How every group of students does here

At Golden Valley Orchard in Orangevale, 43.9% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 47.4% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Golden Valley Orchard trails its district average for white students by 3.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (23.6% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 107 students tested.

Met or exceeded · reading and math combined
All students at this school: 35% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 35%, district —, state 43%35%
WhiteWhite: this school 34%, district 41%, state 56%34% · −1 vs school
MaleMale: this school 32%, district 33%, state 42%32% · −3 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 41%, district 35%, state 44%41% · +6 vs school

9 of 13 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
ShowHide Student-group results by grade
Student-group results by grade

Results compare different grade groups in the same year, relative to the lowest tested grade. They do not track the same children over time. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

ShowHide California's growth model by student group
The state's growth model, by student group

California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California elementary school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.

Reading
English Only108 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +16 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 108 students.+16 pts · +13 vs typical
White86 studentsWhite, reading: +14 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 86 students.+14 pts · +9 vs typical
Math
English Only107 studentsEnglish Only, math: +6 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 107 students.+6 pts · +5 vs typical
White85 studentsWhite, math: +7 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 85 students.+7 pts · +2 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 3 more groups are reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

The daily experience

What is it like to be a student here?

Students per teacher

Student–teacher ratio is a schoolwide staffing measure, not an average class size.

The people teaching · CDE staffing 2024–25

About 22 students for every teacher here.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Students per teacher22 · district 23
Teaching staff16 teachers
Avg. experience10.7 years
Fully credentialed82%
First-year teachers6%
Intern / emergency permit7.3%
PrincipalBecky Page
ShowHide what the district pays
Teacher salary schedule$60,000 – $118,000
Principal salary$153,210 – $185,821
Superintendent salary$392,080

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

Attendance & discipline · 2024–25

Kids here miss more school, and get suspended more, than the state average.

4.1% of students were suspended, versus 1.6% statewide — a school visit will tell you more than this number.

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 20.7%, district 22.7%, state 17.9%20.7% · +2.8pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 4.1%, district —, state 1.6%4.1% · +2.5pp vs state
This schoolDistrictCalifornia

Resources & neighborhood

What sits behind the school experience?

Explore school spending and the district budget
What gets spent · FY 2024–25

Its district spends $12,962 per student, less than the California average.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $12,962, CA average $14,491$12,962 · district average
District current expense · FY 2024–25$19,542 per student
District averageCalifornia
Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction 59%Instruction support 16%Student services 8%Administration 8%Buildings & maintenance 8%Other 1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

ShowHide the district's spending year by year
district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$12,962 per pupil
2019$12,705 per pupil
2018$13,148 per pupil
2017$11,096 per pupil
2016$10,446 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood · ACS 2024

One in four of students here qualify for free or reduced lunch, versus three in five statewide.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Worth knowing

Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.

On the state's science test (CAST), 37% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.

Hispanic or Latino17.5% · district 26.4% · CA 56.1%
White68.5% · district 45.5% · CA 19.9%
Asian0.7% · district 11.7% · CA 10.2%
Black0.7% · district 5.9% · CA 4.8%
Other12.7% · district 10.5% · CA 9.0%
Free or reduced lunch31.5% · CA 64%
Median income$97K · CA $85K
Median home value$558K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+31% · CA 35%
ZIP population32,600
Median age42 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Culture & philosophy

What is the school’s approach?

School-stated approach · questions for your visit

Look beyond the brochure

A source-reviewed culture summary is not available for this profile yet. Ask how teaching, student support and family communication work day to day.

Read the school’s own website ↗

Family voices

What would you want another family to know about the daily experience here?

Ask a current family: “When your child needs help, how does the school respond?”

Educator voices

What should families understand about teaching, support and the school community?

Ask an educator: “How do you adapt a typical day for children with different needs?”

Bring these questions on a visit →

Compare nearby schools

What are the alternatives?

Compare schools serving the same grade stage. Private schools have no comparable state-test score.

2025 · elementary schools · combined reading and math measures. Percentiles compare schools within their enrollment group.

Private options →
SchoolTypePerformance bandAdvancedProficient or AdvancedDistanceSelect
Golden Valley OrchardCharterNeeds Support9%26%School being viewed
Natoma Station ElementaryPublicStrong40%69%3.2 mi
Pershing ElementaryPublicStrong39%61%1.1 mi
Oakview Community ElementaryPublicStrong26%53%1.2 mi
Open the comparison tool →
More nearby public and private options
Your other options

Your other options

Nearby public schools across grade levels, plus private options within 10 miles.

All schools in Orangevale →

Private schools do not receive a Scope Score or statewide ranking on SchoolScope.

20 private schools within 10 miles
Not scored
What should I check before applying?
District public
Confirm the attendance boundary and any permit options.
Charter
Check applications, priorities and deadlines with each school.
Private
Confirm admission requirements, tuition and financial aid.

Moving & enrollment

Which schools could serve my child?

Check enrollment with this charter school

Ask the school about applications, priorities and deadlines for your child’s grade.

School website →

Schools across the K–12 journey

Source: proximity. Schools are grouped by grade stage. Nearby schools are not confirmed feeder links or address assignments. Verify the current path and eligibility with the district.

Charter enrollment details

Plan your next step

What should I do next?

Worth a school visit

Ask what changed in the last two years, and what the school is asking families for. Growth shows up in these numbers a year or two after it shows up in classrooms.

  • 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.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is Golden Valley Orchard a good elementary school?
Golden Valley Orchard has a Scope Score of 24 out of 100, placing it in the 20th percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #4,587 statewide. 9.1% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 12.3 percentage points below the California average of 21.4%. The Scope Score weights 6 dimensions for elementary schools: exceeded standard (42%), met or exceeded (proficient) (23%), grade 3-to-5 growth (20%), chronic absenteeism (5%), suspension rate (5%), and ELPAC English Learner proficiency (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.
What are Golden Valley Orchard's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 26.2% of students at Golden Valley Orchard met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 9.1% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 17.1% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 9.1% went beyond it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it shows how many students go beyond the standard rather than only meeting it. 161 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Golden Valley Orchard rank in California?
Golden Valley Orchard ranks #4,587 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 20th percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), grade-level growth (Grade 3 to grade 5 growth), chronic absenteeism, and suspension rate. Unlike single-number ratings, the Scope Score shows what drives the ranking so parents can decide what matters most to their family. See full methodology.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Golden Valley Orchard?
20.7% of students at Golden Valley Orchard are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 17.9%. The suspension rate is 4.1%. SchoolScope includes these culture metrics in the Scope Score because they reflect day-to-day school experience in ways test scores alone cannot.
How does Golden Valley Orchard compare to other schools in Orangevale?
Golden Valley Orchard scores 24/100 (20th percentile) among California elementary schools. To compare with nearby schools, SchoolScope shows the same metrics side by side: exceeded rate, proficiency, growth trajectory, and school culture indicators. The school serves 292 students. Use the schools in Orangevale page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.
How does Golden Valley Orchard serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Golden Valley Orchard in Orangevale, 43.9% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 47.4% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Golden Valley Orchard trails its district average for white students by 3.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (23.6% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 107 students tested. SchoolScope shows disaggregated test scores by demographic subgroup so you can see how a school performs for your child's specific group — not just the school-wide average. Subgroup data is context, not part of the Scope Score: we don't penalize schools for who they serve. See our equity approach.

Use the published evidence to prepare questions, then verify fit and access with the school.

Behind the evidence

Inspect the full record

Public sources, visible methods and the underlying school record. Source years and limitations stay attached to the evidence.

How the Scope Score is calculated

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see the state comparison and weights.

What the score weighs · CAASPP 2024–25

The 5 things our score weighs

What the score weighs
What we weighHereStateWeight
Exceeded standard9.1%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded26.2%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism20.7%17.9%5%
Suspension rate4.1%1.6%5%
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)+15.9pp-2.9pp—

Source CAASPP 2025 · California Department of Education. Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How the score is built

A closer look at the evidence

Golden Valley Orchard: reading the evidence

Golden Valley Orchard posts low test scores — and grade 5 tests above grade 3 here this year, by 15.9pp. If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.

Subject proficiency describes tested students, while graduation describes a graduating cohort. These figures are not successive stages followed by the same students.

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.

Explore the underlying data →
Every number: score factors, grades, student groups and downloads
Every number · For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and nearest schools.

Golden Valley Orchard is ranked #4,587 statewide · #28 of 47 in San Juan Unified.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Score factors
FactorSchoolStateWeight
Exceeded standard9.1%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded26.2%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism20.7%17.9%5%
Suspension rate4.1%1.6%5%
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)+15.9pp-2.9ppnot scored
Exceeded standard
↓ vs CA 21.4% · index 38 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded
↓ vs CA 42.7% · index 38 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Chronic absenteeism
↓ vs CA 17.9% · index 45 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · ▲ 1.5pp higher vs 2024
Suspension rate
↓ vs CA 1.6% · index 29 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · ▲ 0.2pp higher vs 2024
Grade gap (G3→G5, different students)
↑ vs CA -2.9pp
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ShowHide table 02 — By grade & subgroup
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 32516%16%32%36%32%−11
Grade 4277%19%19%56%26%−19
Grade 52924%28%24%24%52%+4
Grade 62811%32%43%14%43%−3
Grade 72119%57%10%14%76%+29
Grade 82015%45%15%25%60%+14
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 3250%12%40%48%12%−33
Grade 4260%12%19%69%12%−30
Grade 5297%17%21%55%24%−11
Grade 62818%25%25%32%43%+8
Grade 7215%24%52%19%29%−5
Grade 8205%15%35%45%20%−12

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, that we hold no valid result for it, or that the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide4918%18%57%6%

CAST is tested in grades 5 and 8, then once in grade 10, 11, or 12. This row is the school's all-student aggregate. Not part of the Scope Score.

Subgroup · ELATestedMET+vs districtvs CA
White10743.9%−3−18
03Nearest elementary schoolssorted by Scope Score · Grade gap = grade 3 vs grade 5, this year, different students; Cohort growth = one school's returning cohort tracked across grades (mostly, not exactly, the same kids), in scale-score points — that's the measurement the Scope Score weights
SchoolDistScopeEXCMET+Grade gapCohort growthSusp
Golden Valley Orchard ←—249.1%26.2%+15.9pp—4.1%
Natoma Station Elementary3.2 mi5839.7%69.1%−6.6pp—0.8%
Pershing Elementary1.1 mi5638.9%61.4%+8.4pp—1.5%
Oakview Community Elementary1.2 mi5426.1%53.0%+16.9pp—5.2%
California average—3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp—1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
ShowHide table 04 — More measures
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20193138#341213.9%38.7%13.0%2.1%+6.2pp
20222635#36987.8%32.2%34.5%1.6%+4.1pp
20233043#322411.8%38.5%29.4%2.5%-3.7pp
20243134#377212.5%30.9%19.2%4.0%+18.0pp
20252420#45879.1%26.2%20.7%4.1%+15.9pp
Grade gap = this year's grade 3 vs grade 5 result, two different sets of students, not a trend for any one child — it is not the measurement the Scope Score's growth dimension uses. See §01 above and /methodology#verdicts for the school's actual scored (cohort) growth.
NO STATEWIDE TESTING 2020–21 (COVID) · SCORE AND PERCENTILE ARE RELATIVE TO EACH YEAR'S FIELD
What we can't show
  • — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
05California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
ShowHide table 05 — California growth model, by student group
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+15114Accelerated+6113Accelerated
English Only+16108not categorised+6107not categorised
White+1486Accelerated+785Accelerated
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+1925Accelerated−1025Moderate
Students with Disabilities−515Average+214Average
Hispanic or Latino+1314Accelerated+114Average

Whole scale-score points above or below what CDE's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores — not a percentage, not a percentile. Statewide a typical school lands near +1 with a spread of about 13 points either side, so read a figure against its group's own typical value, not against zero. Muted rows have fewer than 30 students with a growth score — published by CDE, held back from the narrative sections above because at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own. “Not categorised” is CDE assigning no band — English Only, Recently Reclassified, and English Learners Only receive a value and no band, for every school in the state. It is not a missing number. Most figures blend two consecutive years, so adjacent published years share input data and no trend line can honestly be drawn across them. A group absent from this table had fewer than 11 students with a growth score and was never published. Grades 4-8 only. None of this enters the Scope Score — it is more strongly correlated with school demographics than our own growth measure, and one published year is not enough to test its reliability.

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EXC = exceeded standard · MET+ = met or exceeded ("proficient") · Source: CA Dept. of Education · CAASPP 2024–25 · n=5,721 elementary schools · Vintages: climate subgroups 2019+2025 · district finance per its label · ACS 2022 · Data updated 2026-09-18

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

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