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Meadows Elementary · ValenciaPublic

Meadows Elementary: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.

Meadows pairs 73% proficiency with gains that hold up when the school's returning cohort is tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.

25577 North Fedala Road, 91355 (opens in new tab)·Newhall·Valencia·Grades TK-6·729 students·36% low-income·2024–25 CAASPP·(661) 291-4050·Website
Scope Score
69
Strong Growth Engine
ranked #397 statewide · #4 of 10 in Newhall
435 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · cohort of 101 tracked

Meadows Elementary scores 69 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 93rd 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 →

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 “73% proficient” and call it done. Meadows deserves a closer read. One in three of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch (California: 64%) — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

Meadows's low-income kids hit 67.7% 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.

2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope6939
% Exceeded46%21%
% Met+73%43%
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)Strong · p89Average · p50
Absence8.2%17.9%
Suspension0.2%1.6%

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide

Has held the 93rd-percentile line every tested year since 2019.

ELABlue(Increased)MathBlue(Maintained)

Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 73% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 383%77%75%63%70%
Grade 479%74%75%79%72%
Grade 565%78%84%84%83%
Grade 692%80%78%77%86%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 386%78%79%76%70%
Grade 483%76%74%81%68%
Grade 560%60%72%71%76%
Grade 683%75%72%80%86%

Where its students land

ELA
Exceeded 51%Met 26%Nearly Met 10%Not Met 12%
Math
Exceeded 48%Met 27%Nearly Met 14%Not Met 11%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded

The school, grade by grade

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

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

50%
20%
30%
Grade 3 · 70% proficient
44%
28%
28%
Grade 4 · 72% proficient
56%
27%
17%
Grade 5 · 83% proficient

The honest read: the share exceeding rises 5.9pp across grades; the floor rises 12.9pp. The state average rises 4.6pp 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.

67.7%
Low-income · ELA · met standard

Meadows's most underrated number

67.7% 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.

Meadows low-income: 67.7%State low-income: 38.2%

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
45.9%
State 21.4%
24.5pp above state avg
Met or exceeded
73.0%
State 42.7%
30.2pp above state avg
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)
Strong
State average
The school's returning cohort — mostly, not exactly, the same kids two years on — gained 85 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
8.2%
State 17.9%
9.7pp below state avg
Suspension rate
0.2%
State 1.6%
1.5pp below state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
36.0%
State 18.0%
18.0pp above state avg
The returning cohort, two years on
ELA · 2023 · Grade 3
43%
exceeded standard · 75% met or exceeded
ELA · 2025 · Grade 5
56%
exceeded standard · 83% 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. The two measures land in the same neighbourhood here — ours puts this school around the 89th percentile of California elementary schools, the state's around the 95th in reading and math together. Two different methods agreeing is the most you can ask of one year of test data.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
Our growth measurereturning cohort, G3→G5SchoolScope growth measure: 89th percentile among California elementary schools.89th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +21 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 96th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.96th pctile · +21 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +21 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 93rd percentile of 7,518 reported schools.93rd pctile · +21 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 what changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find it.

  • 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 Meadows Elementary in Valencia, 67.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 53.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Meadows Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 13.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (60.0% Math proficient); White students (79.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 52.8 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 161 students tested.

All students at this school: 76% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 76%, district —, state 43%76%
FemaleFemale: this school 79%, district 67%, state 44%79% · +3 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 80%, district 78%, state 56%80% · +4 vs school
MaleMale: this school 73%, district 66%, state 42%73% · −3 vs school
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 64%, district 50%, state 32%64% · −13 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 69%, district 50%, state 32%69% · −8 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 33%, district 28%, state 15%33% · −44 vs school
Military-ConnectedMilitary-Connected: this school 79%, district 59%, state 46%79% · +3 vs school

7 of 15 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 13.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +9.0pp.

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
English Only281 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +23 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 281 students.+23 pts · +20 vs typical
White161 studentsWhite, reading: +21 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 161 students.+21 pts · +16 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students112 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: +18 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 112 students.+18 pts · +17 vs typical
Low-income students112 studentsLow-income students, reading: +14 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 112 students.+14 pts · +14 vs typical
Students with disabilities30 studentsStudents with disabilities, reading: +18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −8 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.+18 pts · +26 vs typical
Math
English Only281 studentsEnglish Only, math: +21 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 281 students.+21 pts · +20 vs typical
White161 studentsWhite, math: +22 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 161 students.+22 pts · +17 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students112 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: +18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 112 students.+18 pts · +19 vs typical
Low-income students112 studentsLow-income students, math: +12 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 112 students.+12 pts · +13 vs typical
Students with disabilities30 studentsStudents with disabilities, math: +6 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.+6 pts · +11 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 5 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 8.2%, district 10.5%, state 17.9%8.2% · −9.7pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 0.2%, district —, state 1.6%0.2% · −1.5pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–66.5%
TK/K9.6%

Where the path goes

Meadows Elementary serves grades TK-6. We don’t have attendance-boundary data showing which high school students here continue to, and we’d rather leave this blank than guess from whichever school happens to be nearest. The district office can tell you which high school your address is zoned for.

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 26:1, district 25:126:1
PrincipalJanette VanGelderen
Teaching staff35 teachers
Avg. experience16.0 years
Fully credentialed96%
First-year teachers6%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$61,406 – $117,288
Principal salaryFrom $153,262
Superintendent salary$269,424

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: $15,328, CA average $14,491$15,328 · spent at this school
District current expense · FY 2024–25$16,843 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
Instruction66%
Instruction support10%
Student services6%
Administration8%
Buildings & maintenance9%

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$11,214 per pupil
2019$10,806 per pupil
2018$11,279 per pupil
2017$10,068 per pupil
2016$9,787 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
White47.3%
District 28.0% · CA 19.9%
Hispanic33.3%
District 44.8% · CA 56.1%
Other13.2%
District 13.8% · CA 9.0%
Asian4.5%
District 11.4% · CA 10.2%
Black1.6%
District 2.0% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 35.8% (28pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$116K · CA $85K
Median home value$806K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+50% · CA 35%
ZIP population29,123
Median age43 years

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

Worth Knowing

At 729 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), 68% 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 Meadows Elementary a good elementary school?

Meadows Elementary has a Scope Score of 69 out of 100, placing it in the 93rd percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #397 statewide. 45.9% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 24.5 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 Meadows Elementary's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 73.0% of students at Meadows Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 45.9% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 27.1% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 45.9% 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. 649 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Meadows Elementary rank in California?

Meadows Elementary ranks #397 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 93rd 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 Meadows 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 Meadows Elementary that cohort is 2023 G3 → 2025 G5, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks strong among California elementary schools — roughly the 89th percentile, ahead of 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 Meadows Elementary?

8.2% of students at Meadows 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 0.2%, 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 Meadows Elementary compare to other schools in Valencia?

Meadows Elementary scores 69/100 (93rd 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 729 students. Use the schools in Valencia page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.

How does Meadows Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Meadows Elementary in Valencia, 67.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 53.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Meadows Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 13.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (60.0% Math proficient); White students (79.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 52.8 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 161 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.

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%
45.9%
↑ vs CA 21.4% · index 74 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded · 23%
73.0%
↑ vs CA 42.7% · index 73 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5) · 20%
Strong
↑ vs CA average · 89th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
8.2%
↑ vs CA 17.9% · index 66 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▼ 1.9pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
0.2%
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 62 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▼ 0.2pp lower vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
36.0%
↑ vs CA 18.0% · index 76 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 310050%20%8%22%70%+27
Grade 411444%28%10%18%72%+27
Grade 511156%27%11%6%83%+35
Grade 611056%30%10%4%86%+40
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 39944%25%7%23%70%+24
Grade 411439%28%23%10%68%+26
Grade 511141%34%16%8%76%+41
Grade 611066%20%8%5%86%+52

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
Schoolwide11141%27%27%5%

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 Disadvantaged16167.7%+14+29
White20979.4%−1+18
Hispanic/Latino14973.8%+20+35
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
Meadows Elementary ←6945.9%73.0%+9.4pp+85 pts0.2%
Pico Canyon Elementary1.5 mi7354.0%77.9%−5.9pp0.7%
Oak Hills Elementary2.4 mi7352.1%77.1%+10.7pp0.1%
Emblem Academy2.9 mi7150.9%76.9%+1.7pp0.7%
California average3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20197292#42351.0%75.8%5.2%1.0%-21.9pp
20227193#41847.3%73.8%11.7%0.4%-7.8pp
20237192#43647.0%76.6%12.8%0.6%+1.0pp
20246993#37845.4%75.8%10.0%0.4%+8.4pp
20256993#39745.9%73.0%8.2%0.2%+9.4pp
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
Female4.6%6.9%+2.3pp
Male5.2%8.6%+3.4pp
Asian0.0%2.7%+2.7pp
Black/African American0.0%18.8%+18.8pp
Filipino3.4%0.0%-3.4pp
Hispanic/Latino3.8%9.4%+5.6pp
Two or More Races4.7%8.5%+3.8pp
White6.4%7.1%+0.7pp
Students with Disabilities11.9%15.2%+3.3pp
English Learners3.4%11.7%+8.3pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged8.7%10.7%+2.0pp
All Students4.9%7.7%+2.8pp
Homeless9.1%
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+21321Exceptional+21321Exceptional
English Only+23281not categorised+21281not categorised
White+21161Exceptional+22161Exceptional
Hispanic or Latino+18112Accelerated+18112Accelerated
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+14112Accelerated+12112Accelerated
Students with Disabilities+1830Accelerated+630Accelerated
English Learner+527Accelerated+1027Accelerated
Asian+2615Exceptional+2815Exceptional
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only+2115not categorised+815not categorised
English Learners Only−2112not categorised+1312not categorised
Two or More Races+3512Exceptional+3112Exceptional

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