Keith McCarthy Academy: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Keith McCarthy Academy posts 24% meeting the standard and 8.5% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42 | 9% | 24% | +6.4 | 14.5% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Keith McCarthy Academy scores 42 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 49th 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 →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “24% proficient” and call it done. Keith McCarthy Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Lake Elsinore, where three in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 12th to the 49th percentile since 2023 — past roughly 2100 elementary schools.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | — | 26% | 6% | 31% |
| Grade 4 | — | — | 25% | 28% | 14% |
| Grade 5 | — | — | 28% | 20% | 53% |
| Grade 6 | — | 27% | 26% | 20% | 26% |
| Grade 7 | 11% | 29% | 29% | 13% | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 17% | 25% | 30% | 23% | 20% |
| Grade 11 | 40% | 40% | 29% | 28% | 26% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | — | 12% | 11% | 23% |
| Grade 4 | — | — | 14% | 20% | 7% |
| Grade 5 | — | — | 3% | 10% | 13% |
| Grade 6 | — | 13% | 7% | 0% | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 0% | 7% | 12% | 0% | 0% |
| Grade 8 | 4% | 5% | 7% | 8% | 5% |
| Grade 11 | 5% | 5% | 2% | 6% | 3% |
The 6 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.
- 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 Keith McCarthy Academy in Lake Elsinore, 16.1% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 33.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Keith McCarthy Academy trails its district average for low-income students by 17.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (3.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (20.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 11.3 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 143 students tested.
9 of 15 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 9–12 students (38.3% vs 1.6%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Keith McCarthy Academy serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$423 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
On the state's science test (CAST), 5% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Keith McCarthy Academy a good elementary school?
What are Keith McCarthy Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does Keith McCarthy Academy rank in California?
Is Keith McCarthy Academy getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Keith McCarthy Academy?
How does Keith McCarthy Academy compare to other schools in Lake Elsinore?
How does Keith McCarthy Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 31
Nearby High Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 40
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
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 | 13 | 15% | 15% | 15% | 54% | 31% | −13 |
| Grade 4 | 14 | 7% | 7% | 21% | 64% | 14% | −31 |
| Grade 5 | 15 | 7% | 47% | 27% | 20% | 53% | +5 |
| Grade 6 | 31 | 6% | 19% | 19% | 55% | 26% | −21 |
| Grade 7 | 36 | 0% | 11% | 33% | 56% | 11% | −37 |
| Grade 8 | 44 | 0% | 20% | 32% | 48% | 20% | −26 |
| Grade 11 | 58 | 10% | 16% | 34% | 40% | 26% | −21 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 13 | 15% | 8% | 8% | 69% | 23% | −23 |
| Grade 4 | 14 | 0% | 7% | 14% | 79% | 7% | −34 |
| Grade 5 | 15 | 7% | 7% | 47% | 40% | 13% | −22 |
| Grade 6 | 30 | 0% | 10% | 10% | 80% | 10% | −25 |
| Grade 7 | 36 | 0% | 0% | 36% | 64% | 0% | −34 |
| Grade 8 | 43 | 0% | 5% | 14% | 81% | 5% | −28 |
| Grade 11 | 60 | 2% | 2% | 13% | 83% | 3% | −20 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 118 | 1% | 4% | 69% | 25% |
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 | 143 | 16.1% | −17 | −22 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 108 | 20.4% | −13 | −18 |
| White | 31 | 38.7% | −13 | −23 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith McCarthy Academy ← | — | 42 | 8.5% | 23.7% | +6.4 | 0.4% |
| Earl Warren Elementary | 1.5 mi | 36 | 15.7% | 37.5% | −9.0 | 0.3% |
| Railroad Canyon Elementary | 1.8 mi | 29 | 11.7% | 30.4% | −9.3 | 0.2% |
| Elsinore Elementary | 0.8 mi | 27 | 4.7% | 16.1% | +1.6 | 2.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 24 | 12 | #5023 | 5.7% | 18.2% | 39.7% | 0.5% | -3.7pp |
| 2024 | 39 | 42 | #3336 | 5.3% | 15.8% | 15.1% | 1.0% | +6.7pp |
| 2025 | 42 | 49 | #2911 | 8.5% | 23.7% | 14.5% | 0.4% | +6.4pp |
- — 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 22 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 48.2% | 11.8% | -36.4pp |
| Male | 52.7% | 15.0% | -37.7pp |
| Black/African American | 50.0% | 5.0% | -45.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 54.4% | 16.5% | -37.9pp |
| Two or More Races | 46.2% | 3.7% | -42.5pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 41.8% | 15.1% | -26.7pp |
| English Learners | 70.0% | 16.7% | -53.3pp |
| Homeless | 70.6% | 22.7% | -47.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 53.2% | 15.6% | -37.6pp |
| All Students | 50.5% | 13.3% | -37.2pp |
| White | — | 0.0% | — |
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