John R. Peterson Elementary: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
John R. Peterson posts 59% meeting the standard, and 34.7% going well past it. Most kids here keep up. Fewer get pushed further. Ask the school what it does for a child who already finds the work easy.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53 | 35% | 59% | +7.0 | 8.5% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
John R. Peterson Elementary scores 53 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 72nd 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 “59% proficient” and call it done. John R. Peterson deserves a closer read. The school sits in Huntington Beach, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 8.5% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 95th to the 72nd percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 59% meet the standard today, versus 69% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 66% | 57% | 62% | 73% | 53% |
| Grade 4 | 72% | 66% | 65% | 63% | 71% |
| Grade 5 | 81% | 68% | 82% | 77% | 60% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 66% | 67% | 75% | 69% | 53% |
| Grade 4 | 58% | 65% | 65% | 64% | 54% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 50% | 60% | 69% | 59% |
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 4.7pp across grades; the floor rises 7.2pp. 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 John R. Peterson Elementary in Huntington Beach, 45.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 57.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. John R. Peterson Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 12.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (39.6% Math proficient); White students (69.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 26.0 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 106 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 falls by 3.8pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.3pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (9.6% vs 3.4%). 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
$274 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), 52% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is John R. Peterson Elementary a good elementary school?
What are John R. Peterson Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does John R. Peterson Elementary rank in California?
Is John R. Peterson Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at John R. Peterson Elementary?
How does John R. Peterson Elementary compare to other schools in Huntington Beach?
How does John R. Peterson Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 78
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 62
Nearby High Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 62
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 | 77 | 32% | 21% | 17% | 30% | 53% | +10 |
| Grade 4 | 56 | 45% | 27% | 16% | 13% | 71% | +27 |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 37% | 23% | 19% | 21% | 60% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 78 | 31% | 22% | 24% | 23% | 53% | +7 |
| Grade 4 | 57 | 32% | 23% | 39% | 7% | 54% | +13 |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 31% | 28% | 19% | 22% | 59% | +24 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 86 | 23% | 29% | 37% | 10% |
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 | 106 | 45.3% | −12 | +7 |
| White | 100 | 69.0% | −3 | +7 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 58 | 36.2% | −23 | −3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John R. Peterson Elementary ← | — | 53 | 34.7% | 58.6% | +7.0 | 0.3% |
| Newland (William T.) Elementary | 1.1 mi | 80 | 63.5% | 89.3% | −4.2 | 0.9% |
| Gisler (Robert) Elementary | 2.8 mi | 78 | 52.2% | 79.2% | −10.2 | 1.2% |
| Courreges (Roch) Elementary | 2.4 mi | 75 | 56.4% | 80.0% | +0.1 | 0.8% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 76 | 95 | #297 | 44.3% | 69.0% | 4.0% | 2.2% | +10.5pp |
| 2022 | 59 | 87 | #762 | 36.0% | 62.1% | 12.8% | 0.2% | -3.0pp |
| 2023 | 67 | 91 | #536 | 41.5% | 68.1% | 12.6% | 0.4% | +2.5pp |
| 2024 | 73 | 94 | #359 | 43.0% | 69.1% | 11.3% | 0.3% | +1.7pp |
| 2025 | 53 | 72 | #1623 | 34.7% | 58.6% | 8.5% | 0.3% | +7.0pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.3% | 8.2% | +3.9pp |
| Male | 3.6% | 7.6% | +4.0pp |
| Asian | 1.6% | 0.0% | -1.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.9% | 13.3% | +8.4pp |
| Two or More Races | 2.4% | 3.0% | +0.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 5.0% | 13.5% | +8.5pp |
| English Learners | 7.7% | 2.7% | -5.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.1% | 11.8% | +6.7pp |
| All Students | 3.9% | 7.9% | +4.0pp |
| Filipino | — | 11.1% | — |
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