Palomares Elementary: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.
Palomares pairs 54% proficiency with gains that hold up when the same students are tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 60 | 26% | 54% | +32.0 | 9.3% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Palomares Elementary scores 60 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 83rd 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 →
🚀 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 “54% proficient” and call it done. Palomares deserves a closer read. The school sits in Castro Valley, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: +32.0pp separates this year's grade 3 from its grade 5. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G3 → 2025 G5 points the same way.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 83rd-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 54% meet the standard today, versus 69% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 52% | 48% | 36% | 46% | 24% |
| Grade 4 | 79% | 67% | 59% | 63% | 74% |
| Grade 5 | 73% | 74% | 63% | 62% | 72% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 70% | 62% | 55% | 58% | 40% |
| Grade 4 | 63% | 50% | 53% | 62% | 61% |
| Grade 5 | 77% | 61% | 56% | 62% | 56% |
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 16.0pp across grades; the floor rises 48.0pp. 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.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find it.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- 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
9 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (15.4% vs 3.6%). 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 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 135 students, this school is much smaller than 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), 44% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Palomares Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Palomares Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Palomares Elementary rank in California?
Is Palomares Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Palomares Elementary?
How does Palomares Elementary compare to other schools in Castro Valley?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 70
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 61
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 | 25 | 12% | 12% | 32% | 44% | 24% | −19 |
| Grade 4 | 27 | 41% | 33% | 7% | 19% | 74% | +29 |
| Grade 5 | 25 | 28% | 44% | 8% | 20% | 72% | +24 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 25 | 20% | 20% | 28% | 32% | 40% | −6 |
| Grade 4 | 28 | 29% | 32% | 36% | 4% | 61% | +19 |
| Grade 5 | 25 | 24% | 32% | 24% | 20% | 56% | +21 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 25 | 24% | 20% | 44% | 12% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palomares Elementary ← | — | 60 | 25.6% | 54.5% | +32.0 | 0.3% |
| Jensen Ranch Elementary | 1.3 mi | 84 | 59.6% | 85.4% | −2.7 | 0.1% |
| Independent Elementary | 1.4 mi | 67 | 41.2% | 67.5% | +6.7 | 0.9% |
| Vannoy Elementary | 2 mi | 60 | 37.6% | 67.9% | −2.8 | 0.6% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 67 | 88 | #682 | 40.4% | 68.9% | 3.3% | 0.1% | +14.1pp |
| 2022 | 59 | 86 | #785 | 30.0% | 60.2% | 29.6% | 0.1% | +12.6pp |
| 2023 | 52 | 76 | #1354 | 16.7% | 53.6% | 18.7% | 0.1% | +13.9pp |
| 2024 | 56 | 78 | #1258 | 23.4% | 58.8% | 10.1% | 0.3% | +9.8pp |
| 2025 | 60 | 83 | #978 | 25.6% | 54.5% | 9.3% | 0.3% | +32.0pp |
- — Subgroup results are suppressed for small student counts (fewer than 15 tested), following CDE privacy rules.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.1% | 8.0% | +3.9pp |
| Male | 1.4% | 7.1% | +5.7pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 4.3% | +4.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.8% | 8.2% | +2.4pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.9% | 3.6% | -2.3pp |
| English Learners | 0.0% | 5.0% | +5.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 8.8% | 12.3% | +3.5pp |
| All Students | 2.8% | 7.6% | +4.8pp |
| Students with Disabilities | — | 6.7% | — |
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