Howard Gardner Community Charter: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Howard Gardner Community Charter posts 21% meeting the standard and 5.2% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
Howard Gardner Community Charter scores 35 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 29th 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 →
Most rating sites would stop at “21% proficient” and call it done. Howard Gardner Community Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Chula Vista, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
As a charter, Howard Gardner Community Charter enrolls by application, not address — the score reads the same, the enrollment path doesn't.
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 falls 11.8pp across grades; the floor rises 3.1pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 5 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.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Your other options
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
The community around it
Student demographics
2 more gaps by subject
Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.
Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.
Subgroup Growth by Grade
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 9.0pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.3pp.
Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Funding Breakdown
Neighborhood Context
Whole Child
Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25
Frequently asked questions
Is Howard Gardner Community Charter a good elementary school?
What are Howard Gardner Community Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Howard Gardner Community Charter rank in California?
Is Howard Gardner Community Charter getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Howard Gardner Community Charter?
How does Howard Gardner Community Charter compare to other schools in Chula Vista?
How does Howard Gardner Community Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
For the data nerdsEvery number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
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 | 17 | 12% | 12% | 24% | 53% | 24% | −20 |
| Grade 4 | 22 | 14% | 5% | 23% | 59% | 18% | −27 |
| Grade 5 | 15 | 0% | 27% | 13% | 60% | 27% | −21 |
| Grade 6 | 19 | 26% | 21% | 26% | 26% | 47% | +1 |
| Grade 7 | 27 | 7% | 11% | 30% | 52% | 19% | −29 |
| Grade 8 | 17 | 0% | 35% | 18% | 47% | 35% | −11 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 17 | 6% | 18% | 29% | 47% | 24% | −22 |
| Grade 4 | 22 | 0% | 18% | 9% | 73% | 18% | −23 |
| Grade 5 | 15 | 0% | 13% | 27% | 60% | 13% | −22 |
| Grade 6 | 19 | 11% | 5% | 32% | 53% | 16% | −19 |
| Grade 7 | 27 | 0% | 0% | 30% | 70% | 0% | −34 |
| Grade 8 | 17 | 0% | 12% | 41% | 47% | 12% | −21 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 32 | 0% | 13% | 66% | 22% |
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 | 98 | 21.4% | +11 | −17 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 113 | 28.3% | +20 | −11 |
| English Learners | 18 | 11.1% | +11 | +1 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Gardner Community Charter ← | — | 35 | 5.2% | 20.6% | −3.5 | 3.6% |
| Chula Vista Learning Community Charter | 1.5 mi | 60 | 23.5% | 51.1% | −5.1 | 0.1% |
| Rice (Lilian J.) Elementary | 1.9 mi | 50 | 15.4% | 37.2% | +8.0 | 0.7% |
| John A. Otis Elementary | 1.9 mi | 49 | 14.6% | 30.9% | +18.3 | 1.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 17 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.