Happy Valley Elementary: Three in five kids exceed the standard. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.
Happy Valley is one of the strongest elementary schools in Lafayette by raw achievement. The catch worth understanding: the cohort doesn't gain ground year-over-year.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 76 | 63% | 88% | -3.4 | 3.4% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Happy Valley Elementary scores 76 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 96th 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 →
⭐ High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “88% proficient” and call it done. Happy Valley deserves a closer read. It sits at the 96th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
The headline number: 62.7% of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 96th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 88% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 91% | 92% | 93% | 92% | 90% |
| Grade 4 | 85% | 86% | 89% | 89% | 85% |
| Grade 5 | 90% | 88% | 81% | 95% | 93% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 96% | 93% | 96% | 88% | 95% |
| Grade 4 | 88% | 72% | 92% | 86% | 84% |
| Grade 5 | 83% | 64% | 70% | 87% | 85% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
math proficiency runs 95% in grade 3 against 85% in grade 5, while reading holds (90% to 93%). The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
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 10.8pp across grades; the floor rises 2.9pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The ceiling holds — more kids exceed by grade 5 — but the floor slips: fewer clear the bar at all. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 Happy Valley Elementary in Lafayette, 85.6% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 77.4% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Happy Valley Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 8.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (85.6% Math proficient); Two or More Races students (100.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 3.4 percentage points for white students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 132 students tested.
6 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
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
$610 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), 82% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Happy Valley Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Happy Valley Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Happy Valley Elementary rank in California?
Is Happy Valley Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Happy Valley Elementary?
How does Happy Valley Elementary compare to other schools in Lafayette?
How does Happy Valley Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 76
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 | 77 | 62% | 27% | 9% | 1% | 90% | +46 |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 55% | 30% | 9% | 5% | 85% | +40 |
| Grade 5 | 67 | 73% | 19% | 6% | 1% | 93% | +45 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 77 | 74% | 21% | 4% | 1% | 95% | +49 |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 49% | 35% | 11% | 5% | 84% | +42 |
| Grade 5 | 67 | 63% | 22% | 12% | 3% | 85% | +50 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 67 | 49% | 33% | 18% | 0% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 132 | 85.6% | +8 | +24 |
| Two or More Races | 31 | 100.0% | +16 | +39 |
| Students with Disabilities | 26 | 69.2% | +22 | +52 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Happy Valley Elementary ← | — | 76 | 62.7% | 88.5% | −3.4 | 0.3% |
| Glorietta Elementary | 2.5 mi | 85 | 60.8% | 85.3% | +8.9 | 0.1% |
| Lafayette Elementary | 1.7 mi | 75 | 58.9% | 82.7% | −10.1 | 0.5% |
| Springhill Elementary | 2.1 mi | 68 | 58.7% | 83.8% | −4.0 | 0.5% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 78 | 96 | #236 | 65.1% | 88.7% | 2.7% | 0.2% | -7.5pp |
| 2022 | 68 | 93 | #379 | 60.7% | 82.4% | 3.4% | 0.0% | -16.5pp |
| 2023 | 72 | 94 | #371 | 65.7% | 86.7% | 8.3% | 0.0% | -18.4pp |
| 2024 | 82 | 98 | #95 | 66.9% | 89.5% | 3.0% | 0.1% | +1.3pp |
| 2025 | 76 | 96 | #250 | 62.7% | 88.5% | 3.4% | 0.3% | -3.4pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 2.7% | 3.0% | +0.3pp |
| Male | 2.3% | 1.7% | -0.6pp |
| Asian | 3.2% | 1.8% | -1.4pp |
| Filipino | 6.7% | 3.4% | -3.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 1.8% | 0.0% | -1.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.6% | 1.4% | -4.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 1.6% | 1.3% | -0.3pp |
| English Learners | 15.8% | 6.3% | -9.5pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.0% | 5.0% | +0.0pp |
| All Students | 2.5% | 2.4% | -0.1pp |
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