Jaime Escalante Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Jaime Escalante posts 45% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53 | 20% | 45% | +9.3 | 8.7% | 0.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Jaime Escalante 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 “45% proficient” and call it done. Jaime Escalante deserves a closer read. The school sits in Cudahy, where nearly all students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 8.7% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 34th to the 73rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 2100 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 45% of students meet the standard today, above the 32% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 27% | 35% | 46% | 40% | 38% |
| Grade 4 | 55% | 42% | 33% | 46% | 40% |
| Grade 5 | 26% | 48% | 51% | 46% | 54% |
| Grade 6 | 64% | 45% | 53% | 73% | 52% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 29% | 40% | 41% | 51% | 45% |
| Grade 4 | 39% | 33% | 38% | 51% | 46% |
| Grade 5 | 15% | 33% | 37% | 42% | 47% |
| Grade 6 | 44% | 29% | 31% | 52% | 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 4.2pp across grades; the floor rises 16.7pp. 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 Jaime Escalante Elementary in Cudahy, 45.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Jaime Escalante Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (44.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (46.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 38.6 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 216 students tested.
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 14.4pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (10.1% vs 6.2%). 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 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
$3,382 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), 32% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Jaime Escalante Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Jaime Escalante Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Jaime Escalante Elementary rank in California?
Is Jaime Escalante Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Jaime Escalante Elementary?
How does Jaime Escalante Elementary compare to other schools in Cudahy?
How does Jaime Escalante Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 58
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 | 61 | 16% | 21% | 25% | 38% | 38% | −6 |
| Grade 4 | 55 | 16% | 24% | 22% | 38% | 40% | −5 |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 21% | 34% | 16% | 29% | 54% | +7 |
| Grade 6 | 48 | 31% | 21% | 27% | 21% | 52% | +6 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 62 | 16% | 29% | 27% | 27% | 45% | −1 |
| Grade 4 | 56 | 21% | 25% | 29% | 25% | 46% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 29% | 18% | 24% | 29% | 47% | +12 |
| Grade 6 | 48 | 21% | 21% | 23% | 35% | 42% | +7 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 68 | 10% | 22% | 53% | 15% |
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 | 216 | 45.4% | +4 | +7 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 232 | 46.1% | +5 | +7 |
| English Learners | 39 | 7.7% | +1 | −3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaime Escalante Elementary ← | — | 53 | 20.1% | 45.1% | +9.3 | 0.1% |
| Aspire Firestone Academy Charter | 1.1 mi | 61 | 15.2% | 41.5% | +9.2 | 0.1% |
| Maywood Elementary | 1.8 mi | 59 | 27.2% | 54.3% | −4.7 | 0.1% |
| Heliotrope Avenue Elementary | 1.4 mi | 56 | 19.3% | 47.4% | +12.7 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 36 | 34 | #3628 | 9.1% | 31.9% | 9.3% | 0.0% | -7.5pp |
| 2022 | 43 | 66 | #1925 | 15.3% | 38.6% | 37.0% | 0.0% | +2.4pp |
| 2023 | 44 | 61 | #2225 | 18.3% | 41.0% | 20.5% | 0.0% | -0.0pp |
| 2024 | 50 | 69 | #1774 | 19.4% | 46.0% | 15.7% | 0.1% | -1.5pp |
| 2025 | 53 | 73 | #1564 | 20.1% | 45.1% | 8.7% | 0.1% | +9.3pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.6% | 7.7% | +0.1pp |
| Male | 10.7% | 8.0% | -2.7pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 9.5% | 7.7% | -1.8pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 27.0% | 21.2% | -5.8pp |
| English Learners | 12.3% | 7.3% | -5.0pp |
| Foster Youth | 6.3% | — | — |
| Homeless | 44.4% | 12.5% | -31.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.1% | 7.8% | -1.3pp |
| All Students | 9.3% | 7.9% | -1.4pp |
| Military-Connected | — | 7.7% | — |
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