Hillside Innovation Academy: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Hillside Innovation Academy posts 35% meeting the standard and 14.3% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46 | 14% | 35% | +10.6 | 15.1% | 1.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Hillside Innovation Academy scores 46 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 59th 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 “35% proficient” and call it done. Hillside Innovation Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Menifee, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 38.1% of English learners reached the top ELPAC level, versus 18.0% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 25th to the 59th percentile since 2023 — past roughly 1900 elementary schools.
| Grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 39% | 31% |
| Grade 4 | 30% | 38% | 50% |
| Grade 5 | 33% | 53% | 50% |
| Grade 6 | 29% | 21% | 41% |
| Grade 7 | 50% | 35% | 41% |
| Grade 8 | 38% | 28% | 37% |
| Grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 32% | 23% |
| Grade 4 | 15% | 25% | 33% |
| Grade 5 | 13% | 21% | 25% |
| Grade 6 | 5% | 3% | 19% |
| Grade 7 | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 10% | 8% | 23% |
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 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 Hillside Innovation Academy in Menifee, 37.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Hillside Innovation Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (21.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (37.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 4.1 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 122 students tested.
10 of 15 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 25.0pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (28.6% vs 7.9%). 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 is estimated from nearby schools in the same district — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated K-12 path based on district and proximity. Actual attendance zones may differ. 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
$115 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 155 students, this school is much smaller than 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), 37% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hillside Innovation Academy a good elementary school?
What are Hillside Innovation Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does Hillside Innovation Academy rank in California?
Is Hillside Innovation Academy getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Hillside Innovation Academy?
How does Hillside Innovation Academy compare to other schools in Menifee?
How does Hillside Innovation Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 39
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 | 13 | 15% | 15% | 23% | 46% | 31% | −13 |
| Grade 4 | 24 | 29% | 21% | 21% | 29% | 50% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 16 | 19% | 31% | 25% | 25% | 50% | +2 |
| Grade 6 | 27 | 15% | 26% | 37% | 22% | 41% | −6 |
| Grade 7 | 34 | 3% | 38% | 21% | 38% | 41% | −6 |
| Grade 8 | 35 | 20% | 17% | 40% | 23% | 37% | −9 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 13 | 8% | 15% | 23% | 54% | 23% | −23 |
| Grade 4 | 24 | 8% | 25% | 42% | 25% | 33% | −8 |
| Grade 5 | 16 | 6% | 19% | 31% | 44% | 25% | −10 |
| Grade 6 | 27 | 7% | 11% | 22% | 59% | 19% | −16 |
| Grade 7 | 34 | 3% | 9% | 29% | 59% | 12% | −22 |
| Grade 8 | 35 | 9% | 14% | 14% | 63% | 23% | −9 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 51 | 4% | 33% | 37% | 25% |
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 | 122 | 37.7% | +3 | −1 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 94 | 37.2% | +2 | −2 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside Innovation Academy ← | — | 46 | 14.3% | 35.4% | +10.6 | 1.1% |
| Mesa View Elementary | 1.9 mi | 52 | 21.8% | 47.4% | +3.6 | 0.7% |
| Romoland Elementary | 2 mi | 33 | 14.9% | 37.4% | −22.0 | 0.9% |
| Harvest Valley Elementary | 0 mi | 32 | 8.2% | 24.4% | −4.8 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 30 | 25 | #4301 | 10.0% | 22.9% | 24.0% | 0.5% | — |
| 2024 | 40 | 46 | #3116 | 13.4% | 34.6% | 13.0% | 1.3% | +1.1pp |
| 2025 | 46 | 59 | #2359 | 14.3% | 35.4% | 15.1% | 1.1% | +10.6pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | — | 15.9% | — |
| Male | — | 12.9% | — |
| Black/African American | — | 19.0% | — |
| Filipino | — | 23.1% | — |
| White | — | 0.0% | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | — | 15.2% | — |
| Students with Disabilities | — | 17.9% | — |
| English Learners | — | 9.1% | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | — | 14.0% | — |
| All Students | — | 14.3% | — |
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