ExploreMapCompareBlogSign in
Newland (William T.) Elementary · Huntington BeachPublic

Newland (William T.) Elementary: Three in five kids exceed the standard. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.

Newland (William T.) is one of the strongest elementary schools in Huntington Beach by raw achievement. The catch worth understanding: the cohort doesn't gain ground year-over-year.

Scope Score
78
Strong High Ceiling
ranked #119 statewide · #2 of 7 in Fountain Valley Elementary
229 tested · 3 of 3 grades published · cohort of 74 tracked

Newland (William T.) Elementary scores 78 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 98th 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 →

High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.

Most rating sites would stop at “89% proficient” and call it done. Newland (William T.) deserves a closer read. It sits at the 98th percentile of 5,721 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.

The headline number: 63.5% of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.4%.

The zoned path
  1. This school
    78/100Strong
    elementary scale
  2. Talbert (Samuel E.) Middle
    60/100Strong
    middle scale
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope7839
% Exceeded63%21%
% Met+89%43%
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)Average · p47Average · p50
Absence8.7%17.9%
Suspension0.9%1.6%

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 5,721 elementary schools statewide

Has held the 98th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.

ELABlue(Increased)MathBlue(Maintained)

Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 89% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 377%86%88%81%86%
Grade 490%93%89%91%86%
Grade 599%91%95%83%89%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 385%83%92%93%96%
Grade 494%92%95%99%92%
Grade 588%88%86%75%85%

Where its students land

ELA
Exceeded 64%Met 24%Nearly Met 11%Not Met 2%
Math
Exceeded 63%Met 28%Nearly Met 8%Not Met 1%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California elementary schools · average21% exceeded · 43% met or exceeded

The story this school is actually telling

The ceiling · exceeded standard
63.5%

of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.4%.

↑ what most “best schools” lists are measuring
The trajectory · grade 3→5
4.2pp

math proficiency runs 96% in grade 3 against 85% in grade 5, while reading holds (86% to 89%). The state average rises by +4.6pp over the same span.

↓ the part no ranking site shows you

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

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

70%
16%
14%
Grade 3 · 86% proficient
59%
27%
14%
Grade 4 · 86% proficient
61%
28%
11%
Grade 5 · 89% proficient

The honest read: the share exceeding falls 9.6pp across grades; the floor rises 2.8pp. The state average rises 4.6pp over the same span. The school's 5th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 3rd graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
63.5%
State 21.4%
42.1pp above state avg
Met or exceeded
89.3%
State 42.7%
46.5pp above state avg
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5)
Average
State average
The school's returning cohort — mostly, not exactly, the same kids two years on — gained 74 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
8.7%
State 17.9%
9.2pp below state avg
Suspension rate
0.9%
State 1.6%
0.7pp below state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
50.0%
State 18.0%
32.0pp above state avg
The returning cohort, two years on
ELA · 2023 · Grade 3
70%
exceeded standard · 88% met or exceeded
ELA · 2025 · Grade 5
61%
exceeded standard · 89% 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 47th percentile of California elementary schools, the state's around the 51st 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: 47th percentile among California elementary schools.47th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −1 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 41st percentile of 7,519 reported schools.41st pctile · −1 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +4 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 60th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.60th pctile · +4 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 the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.

  • Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
  • 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary in Huntington Beach, 86.2% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 75.7% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Newland (William T.) Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 10.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (91.9% Math proficient); Two or More Races students (88.4% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 123 students tested.

All students at this school: 89% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 89%, district —, state 43%89%
MaleMale: this school 90%, district 75%, state 42%90% · +0 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 89%, district 72%, state 56%89% · −0 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 89%, district 78%, state 44%89% · −0 vs school
Two or More RacesTwo or More Races: this school 92%, district 79%, state 56%92% · +3 vs school
AsianAsian: this school 90%, district 86%, state 72%90% · +1 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 76%, district 62%, state 32%76% · −13 vs school
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 83%, district 67%, state 32%83% · −6 vs school

5 of 13 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.

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 Only135 studentsEnglish Only, reading: −2 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 135 students.−2 pts · −5 vs typical
White81 studentsWhite, reading: −6 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 81 students.−6 pts · −11 vs typical
Math
English Only135 studentsEnglish Only, math: +2 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 135 students.+2 pts · +1 vs typical
White81 studentsWhite, math: +2 scale-score points versus expectation, against +5 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 81 students.+2 pts · −3 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 4 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 8.7%, district 8.2%, state 17.9%8.7% · −9.2pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 0.9%, district —, state 1.6%0.9% · −0.7pp vs state

TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (14.4% vs 6.1%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.

Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–66.1%
TK/K14.4%

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path
Elementary
Newland (William T.) Elementar…
78/100
This school
High School
No feeder data available for this level

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 24:1, district 24:124:1
PrincipalMatt Ploski
Teaching staff32 teachers
Avg. experience13.4 years
Fully credentialed96%
First-year teachers6%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$56,195 – $130,103
Principal salaryFrom $170,669
Superintendent salary$299,943

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: $15,573, CA average $14,491$15,573 · spent at this school
Federal share$463 per student

$463 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$15,901 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
Instruction68%
Instruction support11%
Student services6%
Administration5%
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$11,217 per pupil
2019$10,227 per pupil
2018$10,331 per pupil
2017$9,634 per pupil
2016$9,274 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
White50.5%
District 31.1% · CA 19.9%
Other17.5%
District 13.3% · CA 9.0%
Hispanic17.3%
District 19.1% · CA 56.1%
Asian14.1%
District 36.1% · CA 10.2%
Black0.6%
District 0.4% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 14.1% (50pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$131K · CA $85K
Median home value$1.08M · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+52% · CA 35%
ZIP population54,615
Median age48 years

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

Worth Knowing

Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.

On the state's science test (CAST), 65% 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary a good elementary school?

Newland (William T.) Elementary has a Scope Score of 78 out of 100, placing it in the 98th percentile of California elementary schools and ranked #119 statewide. 63.5% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 42.1 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 89.3% of students at Newland (William T.) Elementary met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 63.5% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 25.8% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 63.5% 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. 459 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Newland (William T.) Elementary rank in California?

Newland (William T.) Elementary ranks #119 among California elementary schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 98th 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 Newland (William T.) 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary that cohort is 2023 G3 → 2025 G5, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks average among California elementary schools — roughly the 47th percentile, behind 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary?

8.7% of students at Newland (William T.) 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 0.9%, 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 Newland (William T.) Elementary compare to other schools in Huntington Beach?

Newland (William T.) Elementary scores 78/100 (98th 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 531 students. Use the schools in Huntington Beach page or the map view to compare all elementary schools nearby.

How does Newland (William T.) Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Newland (William T.) Elementary in Huntington Beach, 86.2% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 75.7% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Newland (William T.) Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 10.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (91.9% Math proficient); Two or More Races students (88.4% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 123 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.

What middle school does Newland (William T.) Elementary feed into?

By attendance boundary, Newland (William T.) Elementary is zoned to Talbert (Samuel E.) Middle. Talbert (Samuel E.) Middle has a Scope Score of 60 out of 100. Boundaries come from the U.S. Department of Education's School Attendance Boundary Survey, a 2015-16 collection and the most recent national one — they are approximate and may since have changed. A boundary is also not a placement guarantee: magnet, charter, open-enrollment and inter-district transfer options mean students from one school often continue to several different ones. Confirm your address with the district before making an enrollment or housing decision. Data source: NCES School Attendance Boundary Survey, analyzed by SchoolScope.

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%
63.5%
↑ vs CA 21.4% · index 91 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Met or exceeded · 23%
89.3%
↑ vs CA 42.7% · index 86 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
Growth (2023 G3 → 2025 G5) · 20%
Average
↓ vs CA average · 47th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
8.7%
↑ vs CA 17.9% · index 65 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▼ 2.3pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
0.9%
↑ vs CA 1.6% · index 56 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
▲ 0.5pp higher vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
50.0%
↑ vs CA 18.0% · index 95 · 50 = CA elementary-school midpoint
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 38170%16%12%1%86%+43
Grade 47459%27%12%1%86%+42
Grade 57461%28%8%3%89%+41
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 38267%29%4%0%96%+51
Grade 47465%27%8%0%92%+51
Grade 57458%27%12%3%85%+50

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
Schoolwide7432%32%35%0%

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
White12386.2%+11+24
Two or More Races4388.4%+8+27
Hispanic/Latino2378.3%+11+39
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
Newland (William T.) Elementary ←7863.5%89.3%−4.2pp+74 pts0.9%
Plavan (Urbain H.) Elementary2.9 mi8257.7%81.0%+8.4pp0.5%
Gisler (Robert) Elementary1.8 mi7552.2%79.2%−10.2pp1.2%
Oka (Isojiro) Elementary1 mi7358.7%80.1%+0.0pp0.8%
California average3921.4%42.7%−2.9pp1.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20198498#11162.1%88.8%5.0%0.9%+12.3pp
20229099#5366.9%89.0%16.4%0.3%+5.4pp
20239099#4167.2%91.0%14.5%0.3%+0.4pp
20247898#13864.8%87.0%11.0%0.5%-7.9pp
20257898#11963.5%89.3%8.7%0.9%-4.2pp
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
Female4.7%5.3%+0.6pp
Male4.5%10.5%+6.0pp
Asian3.8%8.8%+5.0pp
Hispanic/Latino9.5%6.5%-3.0pp
Two or More Races0.0%1.5%+1.5pp
White2.9%9.3%+6.4pp
Students with Disabilities11.9%21.6%+9.7pp
English Learners10.0%10.5%+0.5pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged9.6%18.4%+8.8pp
All Students4.6%8.1%+3.5pp
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students−1144Average+4144Average
English Only−2135not categorised+2135not categorised
White−681Moderate+281Average
Hispanic or Latino+722Accelerated+722Accelerated
Asian+718Accelerated+518Accelerated
Two or More Races+218Average+518Accelerated
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+1217Accelerated+2717Exceptional

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.

Embed this scorecard
<iframe
  src="https://schoolscope.co/embed/school/newland-william-t-elementary-7999"
  width="100%" height="210" loading="lazy"
  style="border:0;border-radius:12px"
  title="Newland (William T.) Elementary — SchoolScope scorecard">
</iframe>

Free to embed with the credit link. Data updates automatically.

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