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Public elementary school

Horizon

La Quinta, CA · Grades K-12 · 286 students · Desert Sands Unified

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

25% of tested students are Proficient or Advanced in English and 33% 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

33%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

English

25%

Grades 3 & 5 · Proficient or Advanced

Students

286

Total enrollment

Chronic absence

36%

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%2022: 20%2023: 23%2024: 9%2025: 33%2022: 26%2023: 27%2024: 17%2025: 25%201920222023202420250%25%50%75%100%2022: 20%2023: 23%2024: 9%2025: 33%2022: 26%2023: 27%2024: 17%2025: 25%20192022202320242025
● Math┄ English

Gaps in the lines mark years without annual results.

Exact annual results
YearMathEnglish
2019——
202220%26%
202323%27%
20249%17%
202533%25%

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 2022 to 2025

Slipped from the 36th to the 22nd percentile since 2022.

Most rating sites would stop at “29% proficient” and call it done. Horizon deserves a closer read. Four in five 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.

142 tested · 1 of 3 grades published · no cohort tracked

Horizon scores 25 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 22nd percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide
Year detailsYear2022 · 36th percentile · Scope Score 26 of 1002023 · 30th percentile · Scope Score 25 of 1002024 · 5th percentile · Scope Score 18 of 1002025 · 22nd percentile · Scope Score 25 of 100
ELAYellow(Increased Significantly)MathOrange(Increased Significantly)
ShowHide the by-grade tables, year by year
ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 3—23%7%—25%
Grade 4—31%13%38%—
Grade 5—28%47%17%—
Grade 6—28%37%40%32%
Grade 725%40%59%43%40%
Grade 830%26%47%28%35%
Grade 1172%45%47%38%49%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 3—27%27%—33%
Grade 4—22%13%0%—
Grade 5—13%20%9%—
Grade 6—20%22%29%32%
Grade 725%19%15%14%13%
Grade 815%6%26%25%22%
Grade 1119%15%27%18%39%
Where students land · CAASPP 2024–25

One in four of students here meet the standard. 8% clear it by a lot.

ELA38% met or exceeded
Exceeded 11%Met 27%Nearly Met 35%Not Met 27%
Math30% met or exceeded
Exceeded 8%Met 22%Nearly Met 26%Not Met 44%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded
This school against the California average
2022–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
Scope% Exceeded% Met+GrowthAbsenceSuspension
This school258%29%—36.2%1.4%
CA average · Elementary School3921%43%—17.9%1.6%
This schoolCA avg
Scope2539
% Exceeded8%21%
% Met+29%43%
Growth——
Absence36.2%17.9%
Suspension1.4%1.6%
California’s growth results and student groups
State growth model · CDE growth model 2024–25

California's own growth model places it near the 32nd percentile of 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 a little below the middle of California elementary schools in reading and math together. 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: −3 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 35th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.35th pctile · −3 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: −6 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 30th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.30th 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

Low-income students here meet the ELA standard about even with the same group statewide.

At Horizon in La Quinta, 39.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Horizon outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (29.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (36.4% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 112 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%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 34%, district 28%, state 32%34% · −0 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 32%, district 29%, state 32%32% · −2 vs school
MaleMale: this school 36%, district 33%, state 42%36% · +1 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 36%, district 36%, state 44%36% · +1 vs school

10 of 15 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
Low-income students35 studentsLow-income students, reading: −2 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 35 students.−2 pts · −2 vs typical
Math
Low-income students36 studentsLow-income students, math: −6 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 36 students.−6 pts · −5 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 2 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 24 students for every teacher here.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Students per teacher24 · district 24
Teaching staff14 teachers
Avg. experience20.6 years
Fully credentialed58%
PrincipalJose Ramirez
ShowHide what the district pays
Teacher salary schedule$63,775 – $132,451
Principal salary$167,765 – $193,176
Superintendent salary$327,601

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

Attendance & discipline · 2024–25

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

Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (72.3% vs 44.4%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.

36.2% of students miss a month or more of school, versus 17.9% statewide. High absence often tracks community stress — the data can't say why.

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 36.2%, district 27.3%, state 17.9%36.2% · +18.3pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 1.4%, district —, state 1.6%1.4% · −0.3pp vs state
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
ShowHide attendance by student group and by grade
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–644.4%
Grades 7–872.3%
Grades 9–1263.7%

Resources & neighborhood

What sits behind the school experience?

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

It spends $22,987 per student, more than the California average.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

$49 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.

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $22,987, CA average $14,491$22,987 · spent at this school
Federal share$49 per student
District current expense · FY 2024–25$22,375 per student
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction 57%Instruction support 13%Student services 10%Administration 5%Buildings & maintenance 11%Other 4%

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$13,985 per pupil
2019$13,292 per pupil
2018$13,157 per pupil
2017$12,561 per pupil
2016$12,166 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood · ACS 2024

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

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Worth knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 29% 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 Latino75.9% · district 76.8% · CA 56.1%
White15.0% · district 14.4% · CA 19.9%
Asian1.1% · district 2.2% · CA 10.2%
Black0.7% · district 1.3% · CA 4.8%
Other7.3% · district 5.4% · CA 9.0%
Free or reduced lunch86.0% · CA 64%
Median income$99K · CA $85K
Median home value$662K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+40% · CA 35%
ZIP population38,666
Median age53 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
HorizonPublicNeeds Support8%29%School being viewed
Gerald R. Ford ElementaryPublicStrong33%62%0.8 mi
James Monroe ElementaryPublicSolid26%55%0.6 mi
Amelia Earhart Elementary School of InternationalPublicDeveloping16%41%1.7 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 La Quinta →

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

8 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 your address with the district

School location and nearby schools do not establish attendance eligibility. Confirm boundaries and permit requirements with Desert Sands Unified.

District information →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.

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 how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
  • 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 Horizon a good elementary school?
Horizon has a Scope Score of 25 out of 100, placing it in the 22nd percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #4,473 statewide. 8.3% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 13.0 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 Horizon's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 29.2% of students at Horizon met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 8.3% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 20.8% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 8.3% 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. 24 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Horizon rank in California?
Horizon ranks #4,473 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 22nd 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 Horizon?
36.2% of students at Horizon are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 17.9%. The suspension rate is 1.4%, indicating a low-discipline-incident environment. 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 Horizon compare to other schools in La Quinta?
Horizon scores 25/100 (22nd 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 286 students. Use the schools in La Quinta page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.
How does Horizon serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Horizon in La Quinta, 39.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Horizon outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (29.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (36.4% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 112 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 standard8.3%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded29.2%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism36.2%17.9%5%
Suspension rate1.4%1.6%5%
EL proficiency (ELPAC)11.1%18.0%5%

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

Horizon: reading the evidence

Horizon posts low test scores — and test scores are one lens among several. 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.

Horizon is ranked #4,473 statewide · #15 of 20 in Desert Sands Unified.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Score factors
FactorSchoolStateWeight
Exceeded standard8.3%21.4%42%
Met or exceeded29.2%42.7%23%
Chronic absenteeism36.2%17.9%5%
Suspension rate1.4%1.6%5%
EL proficiency (ELPAC)11.1%18.0%5%
Exceeded standard
↓ vs CA 21.4% · index 40 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded
↓ vs CA 42.7% · index 41 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Chronic absenteeism
↓ vs CA 17.9% · index 20 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · ▼ 12.0pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 52 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint · → no change vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
↓ vs CA 18.0% · index 46 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ShowHide table 02 — By grade & subgroup
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 3128%17%42%33%25%−18
Grade 47——————
Grade 56——————
Grade 6229%23%41%27%32%−14
Grade 7157%33%20%40%40%−8
Grade 8313%32%35%29%35%−11
Grade 114922%27%29%22%49%+0
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 3128%25%33%33%33%−12
Grade 47——————
Grade 56——————
Grade 62214%18%23%45%32%−3
Grade 7160%13%31%56%13%−21
Grade 8320%22%31%47%22%−10
Grade 114916%22%20%41%39%+15

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
Schoolwide836%23%59%12%

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
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged11239.6%+5+1
Hispanic/Latino10036.4%+1−2
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
Horizon ←—258.3%29.2%——1.4%
Gerald R. Ford Elementary0.8 mi5933.5%62.3%+0.3pp—0.4%
James Monroe Elementary0.6 mi4726.5%55.5%+17.4pp—0.4%
Amelia Earhart Elementary School of International1.7 mi3516.2%40.6%−4.5pp—1.0%
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
20222636#364010.3%24.0%23.1%1.3%-4.0pp
20232530#39958.1%21.0%17.8%0.6%+16.7pp
2024185#54234.2%16.1%48.2%1.4%—
20252522#44738.3%29.2%36.2%1.4%—
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.
What we can't show
  • — Growth data isn't available — the state needs matched grades across years to compute it.
  • — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
ShowHide table 05 — Climate by student group
Group20192025Δ
Female40.1%56.1%+16.0pp
Male53.4%62.0%+8.6pp
Hispanic/Latino50.0%58.5%+8.5pp
White36.0%62.7%+26.7pp
Students with Disabilities37.5%65.8%+28.3pp
English Learners42.9%71.9%+29.0pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged49.3%59.9%+10.6pp
All Students45.8%58.9%+13.1pp
Two or More Races—38.5%—
Homeless—90.0%—
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
ShowHide table 06 — California growth model, by student group
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students−337Average−638Moderate
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged−235Average−636Moderate
Hispanic or Latino+128Average−1329Moderate
English Only−627not categorised−1127not categorised

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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