Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
Mary Fay Pendleton posts 68% meeting the standard, and 38.4% 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 | 67 | 38% | 68% | -10.9 | 9.1% | 1.5% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary scores 67 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 90th 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 →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “68% proficient” and call it done. Mary Fay Pendleton deserves a closer read. The school sits in Oceanside, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Mary Fay Pendleton's low-income kids hit 72.3% 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 seven-year arc
Has held the 90th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 68% meet the standard today, versus 81% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 82% | 65% | 62% | 69% | 77% |
| Grade 4 | 82% | 61% | 75% | 61% | 65% |
| Grade 5 | 80% | 70% | 74% | 75% | 67% |
| Grade 6 | 73% | 77% | 63% | 74% | 82% |
| Grade 7 | 66% | 79% | 75% | 70% | 80% |
| Grade 8 | 79% | 54% | 69% | 71% | 73% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 84% | 60% | 59% | 80% | 73% |
| Grade 4 | 88% | 56% | 69% | 68% | 66% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 55% | 61% | 63% | 62% |
| Grade 6 | 61% | 57% | 45% | 67% | 75% |
| Grade 7 | 59% | 45% | 62% | 48% | 68% |
| Grade 8 | 63% | 29% | 59% | 64% | 53% |
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 falls 1.5pp across grades; the floor slips 10.2pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Mary Fay Pendleton's most underrated number
72.3% 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.
The 5 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 Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary in Oceanside, 72.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 50.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 21.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (64.6% Math proficient); White students (81.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 35.4 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 206 students tested.
5 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 falls by 24.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -2.2pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (17.4% vs 4.8%). 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 is estimated from nearby schools in the same district — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated K-12 path based on district and proximity. Actual attendance zones may differ. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$644 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
At 820 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 61% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary rank in California?
Is Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary?
How does Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary compare to other schools in Oceanside?
How does Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
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.
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 | 82 | 45% | 32% | 15% | 9% | 77% | +33 |
| Grade 4 | 92 | 35% | 30% | 22% | 13% | 65% | +20 |
| Grade 5 | 78 | 44% | 23% | 18% | 15% | 67% | +19 |
| Grade 6 | 55 | 53% | 29% | 13% | 5% | 82% | +35 |
| Grade 7 | 50 | 46% | 34% | 12% | 8% | 80% | +32 |
| Grade 8 | 37 | 35% | 38% | 16% | 11% | 73% | +27 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 82 | 40% | 33% | 17% | 10% | 73% | +27 |
| Grade 4 | 92 | 29% | 37% | 26% | 8% | 66% | +25 |
| Grade 5 | 78 | 37% | 24% | 21% | 18% | 62% | +26 |
| Grade 6 | 55 | 40% | 35% | 15% | 11% | 75% | +40 |
| Grade 7 | 50 | 28% | 40% | 20% | 12% | 68% | +34 |
| Grade 8 | 36 | 19% | 33% | 36% | 11% | 53% | +20 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 114 | 26% | 35% | 34% | 4% |
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 | 206 | 72.3% | +21 | +34 |
| White | 190 | 81.1% | +4 | +19 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 103 | 65.1% | +17 | +26 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary ← | — | 67 | 38.4% | 68.3% | −10.9 | 1.5% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 72 | 92 | #454 | 50.6% | 81.3% | 6.0% | 0.6% | -6.8pp |
| 2022 | 53 | 80 | #1138 | 32.3% | 61.1% | 32.5% | 0.2% | -0.2pp |
| 2023 | 68 | 91 | #524 | 35.2% | 66.6% | 16.2% | 0.6% | +6.8pp |
| 2024 | 69 | 91 | #529 | 42.6% | 69.2% | 11.0% | 0.8% | -5.7pp |
| 2025 | 67 | 90 | #603 | 38.4% | 68.3% | 9.1% | 1.5% | -10.9pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 5.3% | 9.2% | +3.9pp |
| Male | 6.6% | 7.9% | +1.3pp |
| Black/African American | 3.2% | 6.8% | +3.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.1% | 12.8% | +6.7pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.1% | 6.1% | +1.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.7% | 10.4% | +0.7pp |
| English Learners | 6.3% | — | — |
| Homeless | 10.0% | 4.5% | -5.5pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.6% | 10.4% | +4.8pp |
| All Students | 5.9% | 8.6% | +2.7pp |
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