Herndon-Barstow Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Herndon-Barstow posts 50% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53 | 27% | 50% | +11.6 | 12.5% | 1.6% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Herndon-Barstow Elementary scores 53 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 73rd 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 “50% proficient” and call it done. Herndon-Barstow deserves a closer read. The school sits in Fresno, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 64th to the 73rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 400 elementary schools.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 50% meet the standard today, versus 55% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 45% | 50% | 61% | 41% | 44% |
| Grade 4 | 62% | 52% | 39% | 52% | 49% |
| Grade 5 | 60% | 56% | 40% | 50% | 60% |
| Grade 6 | 62% | 51% | 53% | 54% | 55% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 65% | 52% | 56% | 42% | 49% |
| Grade 4 | 56% | 38% | 40% | 61% | 40% |
| Grade 5 | 40% | 38% | 27% | 36% | 56% |
| Grade 6 | 46% | 41% | 39% | 40% | 42% |
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 6.9pp across grades; the floor rises 16.1pp. 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 how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- 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 Herndon-Barstow Elementary in Fresno, 45.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Herndon-Barstow Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (43.7% Math proficient); Hispanic students (45.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 6.3 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 266 students tested.
7 of 17 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 12.6pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +0.9pp.
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
$191 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
At 754 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 36% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Herndon-Barstow Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Herndon-Barstow Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Herndon-Barstow Elementary rank in California?
Is Herndon-Barstow Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Herndon-Barstow Elementary?
How does Herndon-Barstow Elementary compare to other schools in Fresno?
How does Herndon-Barstow Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 54
Nearby High Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 44
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 | 106 | 26% | 18% | 21% | 35% | 44% | +1 |
| Grade 4 | 94 | 20% | 29% | 14% | 37% | 49% | +4 |
| Grade 5 | 96 | 33% | 27% | 19% | 21% | 60% | +13 |
| Grade 6 | 98 | 20% | 35% | 26% | 19% | 55% | +9 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 106 | 27% | 22% | 24% | 27% | 49% | +3 |
| Grade 4 | 94 | 17% | 23% | 31% | 29% | 40% | −1 |
| Grade 5 | 96 | 35% | 21% | 26% | 18% | 56% | +21 |
| Grade 6 | 99 | 28% | 14% | 33% | 24% | 42% | +7 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 97 | 14% | 22% | 54% | 10% |
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 | 266 | 45.5% | +5 | +7 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 184 | 45.7% | +5 | +7 |
| Asian | 133 | 63.2% | +9 | −11 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herndon-Barstow Elementary ← | — | 53 | 26.6% | 49.9% | +11.6 | 1.6% |
| River Bluff Elementary | 0.8 mi | 60 | 28.8% | 56.7% | +9.2 | 1.1% |
| Norman Liddell Elementary | 2.1 mi | 54 | 27.4% | 55.9% | −4.9 | 1.4% |
| Teague Elementary | 2.2 mi | 48 | 10.3% | 28.8% | +15.9 | 2.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 49 | 64 | #1966 | 26.9% | 54.7% | 6.4% | 1.2% | -5.0pp |
| 2022 | 39 | 57 | #2486 | 20.5% | 47.8% | 29.6% | 2.3% | -3.9pp |
| 2023 | 31 | 28 | #4136 | 19.4% | 44.0% | 19.7% | 1.5% | -25.1pp |
| 2024 | 46 | 59 | #2331 | 23.6% | 47.0% | 13.4% | 1.3% | +1.2pp |
| 2025 | 53 | 73 | #1562 | 26.6% | 49.9% | 12.5% | 1.6% | +11.6pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.4% | 12.8% | +8.4pp |
| Male | 8.2% | 11.6% | +3.4pp |
| Asian | 3.8% | 9.9% | +6.1pp |
| Black/African American | 9.3% | 15.4% | +6.1pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.5% | 13.1% | +6.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 10.0% | 17.8% | +7.8pp |
| English Learners | 5.9% | 15.4% | +9.5pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 8.5% | 13.6% | +5.1pp |
| All Students | 6.3% | 12.2% | +5.9pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 12.5% | — |
| Foster Youth | — | 16.7% | — |
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