McPherson Magnet: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
McPherson Magnet posts 45.7% exceeding the standard — versus 21.3% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 71 | 46% | 71% | -2.5 | 5.8% | 0.6% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
McPherson Magnet scores 71 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 92nd 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 “71% proficient” and call it done. McPherson Magnet deserves a closer read. The school sits in Orange, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
McPherson Magnet's low-income kids hit 66.5% 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
Climbed from the 79th to the 92nd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 700 elementary schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 71% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 76% | 66% | 70% | 70% | 73% |
| Grade 4 | 70% | 66% | 76% | 78% | 78% |
| Grade 5 | 78% | 71% | 66% | 86% | 86% |
| Grade 6 | 69% | 60% | 60% | 59% | 76% |
| Grade 7 | 62% | 52% | 61% | 68% | 64% |
| Grade 8 | 77% | 57% | 58% | 69% | 67% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 88% | 69% | 71% | 72% | 67% |
| Grade 4 | 68% | 63% | 72% | 57% | 72% |
| Grade 5 | 58% | 45% | 46% | 58% | 48% |
| Grade 6 | 54% | 44% | 41% | 50% | 46% |
| Grade 7 | 52% | 52% | 49% | 44% | 52% |
| Grade 8 | 63% | 37% | 55% | 55% | 52% |
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 3.7pp across grades; the floor rises 13.6pp. 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.
McPherson Magnet's most underrated number
66.5% 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 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 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 McPherson Magnet in Orange, 66.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 46.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. McPherson Magnet outperforms its district average for low-income students by 20.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (40.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (67.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 34.1 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 248 students tested.
8 of 16 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 27.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +12.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 4–6 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 7–8 students (6.8% vs 1.5%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. 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
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 863 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
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 McPherson Magnet a good elementary school?
What are McPherson Magnet's CAASPP test scores?
How does McPherson Magnet rank in California?
Is McPherson Magnet getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at McPherson Magnet?
How does McPherson Magnet compare to other schools in Orange?
How does McPherson Magnet serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 81
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 58
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 | 88 | 50% | 23% | 13% | 15% | 73% | +29 |
| Grade 4 | 97 | 60% | 19% | 12% | 9% | 78% | +34 |
| Grade 5 | 95 | 54% | 33% | 9% | 4% | 86% | +38 |
| Grade 6 | 108 | 37% | 39% | 18% | 6% | 76% | +29 |
| Grade 7 | 95 | 23% | 41% | 29% | 6% | 64% | +17 |
| Grade 8 | 87 | 17% | 49% | 26% | 7% | 67% | +21 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 88 | 39% | 28% | 19% | 14% | 67% | +21 |
| Grade 4 | 97 | 38% | 34% | 16% | 11% | 72% | +31 |
| Grade 5 | 95 | 34% | 15% | 31% | 21% | 48% | +13 |
| Grade 6 | 108 | 25% | 21% | 34% | 19% | 46% | +11 |
| Grade 7 | 95 | 22% | 29% | 26% | 22% | 52% | +18 |
| Grade 8 | 87 | 32% | 20% | 29% | 20% | 52% | +19 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 182 | 21% | 31% | 44% | 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 | 248 | 66.5% | +20 | +28 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 306 | 67.6% | +22 | +29 |
| White | 142 | 75.4% | +3 | +14 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McPherson Magnet ← | — | 71 | 45.7% | 70.8% | −2.5 | 0.6% |
| Tustin Memorial Elementary | 3.1 mi | 85 | 60.7% | 88.3% | −0.1 | 0.7% |
| Red Hill Elementary | 2.4 mi | 81 | 44.8% | 76.9% | +13.9 | 1.0% |
| Ladera Elementary | 3.4 mi | 77 | 47.0% | 70.9% | +1.3 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 59 | 79 | #1180 | 39.1% | 73.2% | 2.7% | 0.6% | -13.9pp |
| 2022 | 52 | 79 | #1228 | 32.2% | 63.1% | 12.0% | 1.8% | -9.5pp |
| 2023 | 59 | 83 | #973 | 39.2% | 66.8% | 10.7% | 0.6% | -14.1pp |
| 2024 | 69 | 91 | #492 | 43.3% | 70.1% | 7.4% | 0.9% | +0.5pp |
| 2025 | 71 | 92 | #453 | 45.7% | 70.8% | 5.8% | 0.6% | -2.5pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 2.8% | 6.3% | +3.5pp |
| Male | 2.3% | 4.0% | +1.7pp |
| Asian | 1.0% | 1.2% | +0.2pp |
| White | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 3.9% | 7.2% | +3.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 0.0% | 3.3% | +3.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 4.1% | 8.2% | +4.1pp |
| English Learners | 3.8% | 3.6% | -0.2pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 2.7% | 7.3% | +4.6pp |
| All Students | 2.6% | 5.1% | +2.5pp |
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