Pepper Drive Elementary: 49% of kids clear the bar — ahead of the state's 43%. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.
Pepper Drive posts 49% meeting the standard, against 43% across the state. The number below is the one to ask about on a visit.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43 | 22% | 49% | -5.8 | 11.6% | 4.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Pepper Drive Elementary scores 43 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 51st 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 “49% proficient” and call it done. Pepper Drive deserves a closer read. The school sits in El Cajon, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Pepper Drive's low-income kids hit 48.6% 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 51st percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 49% of students meet the standard today, above the 45% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 39% | 55% | 53% | 52% | 53% |
| Grade 4 | 58% | 43% | 57% | 50% | 53% |
| Grade 5 | 47% | 39% | 45% | 53% | 60% |
| Grade 6 | 43% | 38% | 36% | 61% | 47% |
| Grade 7 | 45% | 44% | 49% | 45% | 56% |
| Grade 8 | 59% | 29% | 54% | 55% | 58% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 40% | 50% | 47% | 52% | 47% |
| Grade 4 | 46% | 34% | 46% | 36% | 51% |
| Grade 5 | 37% | 21% | 29% | 26% | 29% |
| Grade 6 | 32% | 35% | 37% | 40% | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 46% | 37% | 40% | 34% | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 68% | 49% | 53% | 28% | 36% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students met or exceeded the standard, versus 42.7% statewide.
math proficiency runs 47% in grade 3 against 29% in grade 5, while reading holds (53% to 60%). The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
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 5.1pp across grades; the floor rises 6.2pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The ceiling holds — more kids exceed by grade 5 — but the floor slips: fewer clear the bar at all. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Pepper Drive's most underrated number
48.6% 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 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 typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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.
How every group of students does here
At Pepper Drive Elementary in El Cajon, 48.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 50.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Pepper Drive Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 1.7 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (32.7% Math proficient); White students (57.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 31.4 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 257 students tested.
7 of 15 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 9.4pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.0pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (12.7% vs 8.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
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
$402 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), 36% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pepper Drive Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Pepper Drive Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Pepper Drive Elementary rank in California?
Is Pepper Drive Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Pepper Drive Elementary?
How does Pepper Drive Elementary compare to other schools in El Cajon?
How does Pepper Drive Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 59
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 | 58 | 28% | 26% | 21% | 26% | 53% | +10 |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 27% | 26% | 23% | 24% | 53% | +8 |
| Grade 5 | 52 | 33% | 27% | 13% | 27% | 60% | +12 |
| Grade 6 | 81 | 12% | 35% | 32% | 21% | 47% | +0 |
| Grade 7 | 86 | 21% | 35% | 24% | 20% | 56% | +8 |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 18% | 40% | 21% | 21% | 58% | +11 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 58 | 22% | 24% | 29% | 24% | 47% | +1 |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 12% | 40% | 29% | 19% | 51% | +10 |
| Grade 5 | 52 | 12% | 17% | 35% | 37% | 29% | −6 |
| Grade 6 | 81 | 15% | 17% | 27% | 41% | 32% | −3 |
| Grade 7 | 86 | 16% | 16% | 33% | 35% | 33% | −1 |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 25% | 11% | 24% | 40% | 36% | +4 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 132 | 8% | 28% | 55% | 9% |
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 | 257 | 48.6% | −2 | +10 |
| White | 189 | 57.7% | −4 | −4 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 168 | 47.0% | −4 | +8 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepper Drive Elementary ← | — | 43 | 22.1% | 48.7% | −5.8 | 4.1% |
| Riverview Elementary | 1.9 mi | 62 | 35.6% | 63.6% | −0.5 | 0.5% |
| Hill Creek Elementary | 1.9 mi | 60 | 28.6% | 57.8% | +7.5 | 2.8% |
| Rio Seco Elementary | 2.4 mi | 53 | 33.3% | 59.9% | −3.4 | 1.8% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 45 | 57 | #2354 | 19.8% | 44.7% | 7.5% | 5.5% | +2.1pp |
| 2022 | 27 | 25 | #4300 | 19.1% | 40.4% | 32.2% | 3.5% | -22.1pp |
| 2023 | 36 | 42 | #3345 | 19.5% | 46.3% | 24.9% | 8.1% | -13.1pp |
| 2024 | 34 | 27 | #4169 | 15.7% | 44.9% | 12.4% | 6.8% | -12.3pp |
| 2025 | 43 | 51 | #2815 | 22.1% | 48.7% | 11.6% | 4.1% | -5.8pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.5% | 12.3% | +4.8pp |
| Male | 7.5% | 9.8% | +2.3pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 11.1% | +11.1pp |
| Black/African American | 15.4% | 22.6% | +7.2pp |
| Filipino | 16.7% | — | — |
| White | 7.1% | 7.7% | +0.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.2% | 12.0% | +3.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 1.2% | 3.6% | +2.4pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.7% | 13.7% | +4.0pp |
| English Learners | 10.9% | 21.8% | +10.9pp |
| Homeless | 7.8% | 20.0% | +12.2pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.4% | 13.3% | +3.9pp |
| All Students | 7.5% | 11.1% | +3.6pp |
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