James Monroe Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
James Monroe posts 46% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49 | 21% | 46% | -2.9 | 8.8% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
James Monroe Elementary scores 49 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 66th 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “46% proficient” and call it done. James Monroe deserves a closer read. The school sits in Fountain Valley, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 22.5% of English learners met the ELA standard — versus 10.4% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 56th to the 66th percentile since 2022 — past roughly 600 elementary schools.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 54% | 39% | 45% | 36% | 40% |
| Grade 4 | — | 47% | 58% | 43% | 52% |
| Grade 5 | — | 43% | 51% | 52% | 50% |
| Grade 6 | — | 66% | 49% | 56% | 61% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 67% | 51% | 57% | 46% | 50% |
| Grade 4 | — | 38% | 57% | 51% | 48% |
| Grade 5 | — | 24% | 28% | 37% | 34% |
| Grade 6 | — | 55% | 46% | 46% | 64% |
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 holds steady across grades; the floor rises 10.3pp. 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 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 what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 James Monroe Elementary in Fountain Valley, 43.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 55.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. James Monroe Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 12.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (42.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (46.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 25.1 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 182 students tested.
8 of 14 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 6.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +7.0pp.
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 (11.2% vs 6.4%). 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
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$267 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), 30% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is James Monroe Elementary a good elementary school?
What are James Monroe Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does James Monroe Elementary rank in California?
Is James Monroe Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at James Monroe Elementary?
How does James Monroe Elementary compare to other schools in Fountain Valley?
How does James Monroe Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 81
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 | 68 | 24% | 16% | 35% | 25% | 40% | −4 |
| Grade 4 | 66 | 27% | 24% | 21% | 27% | 52% | +7 |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 24% | 26% | 32% | 18% | 50% | +2 |
| Grade 6 | 59 | 15% | 46% | 31% | 8% | 61% | +14 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 68 | 18% | 32% | 26% | 24% | 50% | +4 |
| Grade 4 | 66 | 17% | 32% | 32% | 20% | 48% | +7 |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 15% | 19% | 45% | 21% | 34% | −1 |
| Grade 6 | 59 | 31% | 34% | 24% | 12% | 64% | +29 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 61 | 10% | 20% | 64% | 7% |
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 | 182 | 43.4% | −12 | +5 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 224 | 46.0% | +1 | +7 |
| English Learners | 71 | 22.5% | +2 | +12 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Monroe Elementary ← | — | 49 | 20.6% | 45.6% | −2.9 | 0.3% |
| Plavan (Urbain H.) Elementary | 2 mi | 85 | 57.7% | 81.0% | +8.4 | 0.5% |
| Ethan B. Allen Elementary | 2 mi | 80 | 66.4% | 88.5% | −1.0 | 0.6% |
| Gisler (Robert) Elementary | 2.8 mi | 78 | 52.2% | 79.2% | −10.2 | 1.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 38 | 56 | #2512 | 18.3% | 40.5% | 24.7% | 0.5% | -11.7pp |
| 2023 | 44 | 61 | #2207 | 19.3% | 49.3% | 21.0% | 0.9% | -11.7pp |
| 2024 | 47 | 63 | #2142 | 16.6% | 44.3% | 10.0% | 0.1% | +3.4pp |
| 2025 | 49 | 66 | #1955 | 20.6% | 45.6% | 8.8% | 0.3% | -2.9pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 5.6% | 7.8% | +2.2pp |
| Male | 4.9% | 8.3% | +3.4pp |
| Asian | 5.6% | 11.8% | +6.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.8% | 8.5% | +2.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 8.0% | 2.3% | -5.7pp |
| English Learners | 5.0% | 10.7% | +5.7pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.0% | 9.3% | +4.3pp |
| All Students | 5.2% | 8.1% | +2.9pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 0.0% | — |
| Homeless | — | 8.3% | — |
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