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John Gomes Elementary · FremontPublic

John Gomes Elementary: Three in five kids exceed the standard. But this year's 5th graders test below its 3rd graders.

John Gomes is one of the strongest elementary schools in Fremont by raw achievement. The catch worth understanding: the cohort doesn't gain ground year-over-year.

555 Lemos Lane, 94539 (opens in new tab)·Fremont Unified·Fremont·Grades TK-5·462 students·17% low-income·2024–25 CAASPP·(510) 656-3414·Website
Scope Score
73
Strong High Ceiling
ranked #234 statewide · #6 of 29 in Fremont Unified
261 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · cohort of 84 tracked

John Gomes Elementary scores 73 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 96th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →

High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.

Most rating sites would stop at “83% proficient” and call it done. John Gomes deserves a closer read. It sits at the 96th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.

John Gomes's low-income kids hit 53.8% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.

The zoned path
  1. This school
    73/100Strong
    elementary scale
  2. William Hopkins Middle
    94/100Strong
    middle scale
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope7339
% Exceeded60%21%
% Met+83%43%
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)Average · p48Average · p50
Absence5.7%17.9%
Suspension1.0%1.6%

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide

Has held the 96th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.

ELABlue(Maintained)MathBlue(Maintained)

This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 83% meet the standard today, versus 92% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 385%83%73%67%82%
Grade 494%94%88%77%81%
Grade 593%86%87%87%79%
Grade 692%90%93%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 392%83%82%90%89%
Grade 493%92%89%83%87%
Grade 594%91%89%87%79%
Grade 687%96%89%

Where its students land

ELA
Exceeded 56%Met 24%Nearly Met 9%Not Met 11%
Math
Exceeded 64%Met 21%Nearly Met 10%Not Met 6%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded

The story this school is actually telling

The ceiling · exceeded standard
60.2%

of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.4%.

↑ what most “best schools” lists are measuring
The trajectory · grade 3→5
7.0pp

proficiency runs 86% in this year's grade 3 against 79% in its grade 5. The state average rises by +4.6pp over the same span.

↓ the part no ranking site shows you

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.

52%
30%
18%
Grade 3 · 82% proficient
64%
17%
19%
Grade 4 · 81% proficient
53%
26%
21%
Grade 5 · 79% proficient

The honest read: the share exceeding holds steady across grades; the floor slips 3.3pp. The state average rises 4.6pp over the same span. The school's 5th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 3rd graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.

53.8%
Low-income · ELA · met standard

John Gomes's most underrated number

53.8% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.

John Gomes low-income: 53.8%State low-income: 38.2%

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
60.2%
State 21.4%
38.8pp above state avg
Met or exceeded
82.7%
State 42.7%
39.9pp above state avg
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)
Average
State average
The school's returning cohort — mostly, not exactly, the same kids two years on — gained 74 scale-score points across the span. Almost every school gains points, so we rank the gain against every other California school in this level.
Chronic absenteeism
5.7%
State 17.9%
12.2pp below state avg
Suspension rate
1.0%
State 1.6%
0.6pp below state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
31.6%
State 18.0%
13.6pp above state avg
The returning cohort, two years on
ELA · 2023 · Grade 3
58%
exceeded standard · 73% met or exceeded
ELA · 2025 · Grade 5
53%
exceeded standard · 79% met or exceeded

Percent exceeded, ELA only. SchoolScope's scored growth measure uses a different metric — mean scale-score change across ELA and Math; California's own matched-student model is below.

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model, following individual children in grades 4 through 8 rather than comparing school-wide averages the way we do — and its two subjects part company here. It puts this school around the 38th percentile of California elementary schools in reading and the 95th in math; ours, which blends the subjects, lands around the 48th. A gap that size between math and reading in one building is worth asking about directly — one year of data can't tell you whether it is the teaching, the cohort, or noise.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
Our growth measurereturning cohort, G3→G5SchoolScope growth measure: 48th percentile among California elementary schools.48th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −2 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 38th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.38th pctile · −2 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +23 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 95th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.95th pctile · +23 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

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.

Worth a school visit

Ask the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.

  • 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 John Gomes Elementary in Fremont, 53.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 48.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. John Gomes Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 5.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (55.0% Math proficient); Asian students (83.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.2 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 39 students tested.

All students at this school: 83% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 83%, district —, state 43%83%
AsianAsian: this school 85%, district 84%, state 72%85% · +3 vs school
MaleMale: this school 79%, district 70%, state 42%79% · −4 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 87%, district 72%, state 44%87% · +4 vs school
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 54%, district 44%, state 32%54% · −28 vs school

7 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
Subgroup growth by grade

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 1.7pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +2.7pp.

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
Asian142 studentsAsian, reading: −3 scale-score points versus expectation, against +7 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 142 students.−3 pts · −10 vs typical
English Only95 studentsEnglish Only, reading: −4 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 95 students.−4 pts · −7 vs typical
English Learner30 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: −9 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.−9 pts · −7 vs typical
Math
Asian142 studentsAsian, math: +21 scale-score points versus expectation, against +16 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 142 students.+21 pts · +5 vs typical
English Only95 studentsEnglish Only, math: +19 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 95 students.+19 pts · +18 vs typical
English Learner30 studentsEnglish Learner, math: +14 scale-score points versus expectation, against +2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.+14 pts · +12 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 3 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.

Showing up, and staying in class

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 5.7%, district 10.9%, state 17.9%5.7% · −12.2pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 1.0%, district —, state 1.6%1.0% · −0.6pp vs state

TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (9.2% vs 4.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.

Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–64.3%
TK/K9.2%

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

Mission San Jose HighScope 91direct feeder

The road from this school ends at Mission San Jose High, which sent 101 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 22 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Mission San Jose High around 2035, and 10 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 88% of Mission San Jose High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.

101 UC ENROLLEES (FALL 2025) · 22 AP SUBJECTS TAUGHT full record on Mission San Jose High's page
Source: UC & College Board

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 27:1, district 25:127:1
PrincipalPamela Hughes
Teaching staff23 teachers
Avg. experience16.7 years
Fully credentialed87%
First-year teachers13%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$84,804 – $147,673
Principal salary$181,946 – $224,157
Superintendent salary$367,102

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $16,878, CA average $14,491$16,878 · spent at this school
Federal share$863 per student

$863 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$16,597 per student

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction64%
Instruction support11%
Student services9%
Administration5%
Buildings & maintenance9%
Other2%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$11,623 per pupil
2019$11,438 per pupil
2018$11,629 per pupil
2017$11,018 per pupil
2016$10,331 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Asian81.6%
District 64.4% · CA 10.2%
Other8.7%
District 10.1% · CA 9.0%
Hispanic4.8%
District 16.4% · CA 56.1%
White4.3%
District 7.3% · CA 19.9%
Black0.7%
District 1.8% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 16.9% (47pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$244K · CA $85K
Median home value$1.95M · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+80% · CA 35%
ZIP population52,396
Median age44 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Worth Knowing

Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.

On the state's science test (CAST), 71% 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.

Frequently asked questions

Is John Gomes Elementary a good elementary school?

John Gomes Elementary has a Scope Score of 73 out of 100, placing it in the 96th percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #234 statewide. 60.2% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 38.8 percentage points above 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 John Gomes Elementary's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 82.7% of students at John Gomes Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 60.2% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 22.5% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 60.2% 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. 523 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does John Gomes Elementary rank in California?

John Gomes Elementary ranks #234 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 96th percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), same-cohort growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5), 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.

Is John Gomes Elementary getting better or worse?

SchoolScope follows the same cohort of students across grades rather than comparing two different grades in the same year. At John Gomes Elementary that cohort is 2023 G3 → 2025 G5, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks average among California elementary schools — roughly the 48th percentile, behind the typical school at this level. Read the ranking, not the raw point gain: scale scores rise with age, so nearly every school posts a positive number and only the relative position tells you anything. Growth is weighted at 20% in the elementary Scope Score because it is the least demographically confounded signal available — it tracks change over time rather than the level students arrived at. See full methodology.

What is the attendance and school culture like at John Gomes Elementary?

5.7% of students at John Gomes Elementary are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), which is better than the California average of 17.9%. The suspension rate is 1.0%, 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 John Gomes Elementary compare to other schools in Fremont?

John Gomes Elementary scores 73/100 (96th 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 462 students. Use the schools in Fremont page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.

How does John Gomes Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At John Gomes Elementary in Fremont, 53.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 48.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. John Gomes Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 5.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (55.0% Math proficient); Asian students (83.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.2 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 39 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.

What middle school does John Gomes Elementary feed into?

By attendance boundary, John Gomes Elementary is zoned to William Hopkins Middle. William Hopkins Middle has a Scope Score of 94 out of 100. Boundaries come from the U.S. Department of Education's School Attendance Boundary Survey, a 2015-16 collection and the most recent national one — they are approximate and may since have changed. A boundary is also not a placement guarantee: magnet, charter, open-enrollment and inter-district transfer options mean students from one school often continue to several different ones. Confirm your address with the district before making an enrollment or housing decision. Data source: NCES School Attendance Boundary Survey, analyzed by SchoolScope.

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.


For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and nearest schools.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Exceeded standard · 42%
60.2%
↑ vs CA 21.4% · index 88 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded · 23%
82.7%
↑ vs CA 42.7% · index 81 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5) · 20%
Average
↓ vs CA average · 48th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
5.7%
↑ vs CA 17.9% · index 70 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▼ 2.5pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
1.0%
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 55 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▲ 0.4pp higher vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
31.6%
↑ vs CA 18.0% · index 69 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 38352%30%7%11%82%+39
Grade 48964%17%9%10%81%+36
Grade 58953%26%10%11%79%+31
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 38464%25%6%5%89%+44
Grade 48972%15%9%4%87%+45
Grade 58956%22%13%8%79%+44

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, no valid result was published, or the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide8934%37%27%2%

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 Disadvantaged3953.8%+5+16
Asian22083.6%−1+9
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
John Gomes Elementary ←7360.2%82.7%−7.0pp+74 pts1.0%
Joshua Chadbourne Elementary0.7 mi8171.3%84.7%−8.4pp0.7%
Mission San Jose Elementary2.1 mi8169.5%84.9%−3.6pp0.3%
Mission Valley Elementary1 mi6852.5%70.7%+1.5pp0.6%
California average3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20199499#1576.5%91.8%3.6%1.0%+5.5pp
20229399#3869.6%88.3%11.2%0.5%+5.2pp
20238799#6965.6%84.4%9.5%0.8%+10.5pp
20247998#10861.7%81.8%8.3%0.7%+7.6pp
20257396#23460.2%82.7%5.7%1.0%-7.0pp
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.
NO STATEWIDE TESTING 2020–21 (COVID) · SCORE AND PERCENTILE ARE RELATIVE TO EACH YEAR'S FIELD
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
Group20192025Δ
Female2.8%5.1%+2.3pp
Male3.6%5.0%+1.4pp
Asian1.5%4.4%+2.9pp
Filipino8.3%
Hispanic/Latino18.2%8.7%-9.5pp
Two or More Races0.0%0.0%+0.0pp
White14.6%20.0%+5.4pp
Students with Disabilities17.6%9.8%-7.8pp
English Learners5.8%8.6%+2.8pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged18.2%9.6%-8.6pp
All Students3.2%5.0%+1.8pp
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students−2168Average+23168Exceptional
Asian−3142Average+21142Exceptional
English Only−495not categorised+1995not categorised
English Learner−930Moderate+1430Accelerated
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+126Average+626Accelerated
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only−520not categorised+820not categorised
Students with Disabilities−2513Minimal+1713Accelerated

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 2026-09-07methodology · data updates · CSV · report issue

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