Montgomery (John J.) Elementary: Kids show up here. Test scores are still catching up.
Montgomery (John J.)'s strongest numbers are the quiet ones: attendance and discipline. The academic picture is still developing — and culture is usually where that starts.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 55 | 15% | 41% | +4.7 | 14.3% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Montgomery (John J.) Elementary scores 55 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 75th 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “41% proficient” and call it done. Montgomery (John J.) deserves a closer read. The school sits in Chula Vista, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Montgomery (John J.)'s low-income kids hit 48.3% 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 stayed near the 75th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 41% meet the standard today, versus 47% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 47% | 23% | 27% | 24% | 38% |
| Grade 4 | 41% | 41% | 50% | 37% | 47% |
| Grade 5 | 75% | 42% | 53% | 45% | 57% |
| Grade 6 | 56% | 53% | 56% | 58% | 63% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 45% | 25% | 17% | 25% | 35% |
| Grade 4 | 29% | 18% | 36% | 39% | 46% |
| Grade 5 | 47% | 14% | 23% | 27% | 24% |
| Grade 6 | 21% | 28% | 32% | 15% | 43% |
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 5.9pp across grades; the floor rises 20.0pp. 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.
Montgomery (John J.)'s most underrated number
48.3% 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 6 things our score weighs
Ask how the school built its attendance culture — and what the academic plan looks like from here.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- 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 Montgomery (John J.) Elementary in Chula Vista, 48.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 45.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Montgomery (John J.) Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (35.7% Math proficient); Hispanic students (49.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 26.7 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 151 students tested.
6 of 12 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 16.0pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +9.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (20.9% vs 8.5%). 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
$1,114 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), 24% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Montgomery (John J.) Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Montgomery (John J.) Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Montgomery (John J.) Elementary rank in California?
Is Montgomery (John J.) Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Montgomery (John J.) Elementary?
How does Montgomery (John J.) Elementary compare to other schools in Chula Vista?
How does Montgomery (John J.) 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 | 40 | 18% | 20% | 23% | 40% | 38% | −6 |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 16% | 31% | 24% | 29% | 47% | +2 |
| Grade 5 | 47 | 23% | 34% | 9% | 34% | 57% | +10 |
| Grade 6 | 40 | 30% | 33% | 28% | 10% | 63% | +16 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 40 | 10% | 25% | 18% | 48% | 35% | −11 |
| Grade 4 | 46 | 15% | 30% | 41% | 13% | 46% | +4 |
| Grade 5 | 49 | 10% | 14% | 33% | 43% | 24% | −11 |
| Grade 6 | 40 | 18% | 25% | 28% | 30% | 43% | +7 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 49 | 6% | 18% | 55% | 20% |
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 | 151 | 48.3% | +3 | +10 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 165 | 49.7% | +0 | +11 |
| English Learners | 73 | 24.7% | +6 | +14 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery (John J.) Elementary ← | — | 55 | 15.3% | 41.1% | +4.7 | 0.4% |
| Parkview Elementary | 2.4 mi | 67 | 45.3% | 68.5% | +2.1 | 0.8% |
| Chula Vista Learning Community Charter | 1.8 mi | 60 | 23.5% | 51.1% | −5.1 | 0.1% |
| Nestor Language Academy Charter | 2.1 mi | 60 | 23.4% | 47.0% | +13.5 | 0.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 51 | 68 | #1750 | 19.9% | 47.2% | 9.8% | 0.3% | +15.1pp |
| 2022 | 37 | 54 | #2651 | 9.6% | 27.3% | 27.2% | 0.0% | +4.3pp |
| 2023 | 48 | 69 | #1789 | 9.3% | 34.3% | 22.1% | 0.6% | +15.8pp |
| 2024 | 47 | 64 | #2089 | 9.5% | 32.7% | 13.3% | 0.6% | +11.5pp |
| 2025 | 55 | 75 | #1423 | 15.3% | 41.1% | 14.3% | 0.4% | +4.7pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 9.7% | 13.7% | +4.0pp |
| Male | 9.8% | 14.1% | +4.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.8% | 14.7% | +5.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 19.0% | 30.1% | +11.1pp |
| English Learners | 7.4% | 12.2% | +4.8pp |
| Homeless | 37.5% | 18.2% | -19.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.0% | 13.6% | +4.6pp |
| All Students | 9.8% | 13.9% | +4.1pp |
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