Pioneer: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Pioneer posts 38% meeting the standard and 16.2% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42 | 16% | 38% | -18.7 | 9.5% | 0.9% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Pioneer scores 42 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 48th 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 “38% proficient” and call it done. Pioneer deserves a closer read. The school sits in Delano, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 9.5% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 32nd to the 48th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 700 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 38% of students meet the standard today, above the 26% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 24% | 20% | 30% | 41% | 51% |
| Grade 4 | 26% | 32% | 21% | 25% | 39% |
| Grade 5 | 35% | 26% | 32% | 40% | 34% |
| Grade 6 | 40% | 33% | 40% | 51% | 54% |
| Grade 7 | 36% | 50% | 46% | 59% | 62% |
| Grade 8 | 47% | 49% | 53% | 50% | 53% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 25% | 17% | 30% | 37% | 47% |
| Grade 4 | 25% | 22% | 19% | 20% | 33% |
| Grade 5 | 23% | 6% | 24% | 23% | 26% |
| Grade 6 | 18% | 22% | 32% | 33% | 47% |
| Grade 7 | 18% | 33% | 35% | 34% | 44% |
| Grade 8 | 27% | 27% | 32% | 34% | 45% |
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 falls 3.2pp across grades; the floor slips 17.1pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- 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 Pioneer in Delano, 48.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 47.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Pioneer outperforms its district average for low-income students by 0.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (37.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (48.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 35.7 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 645 students tested.
8 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 falls by 18.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +1.6pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of TK/K students (11.3% vs 7.3%). 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
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$1,210 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
At 1,043 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), 21% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pioneer a good elementary school?
What are Pioneer's CAASPP test scores?
How does Pioneer rank in California?
Is Pioneer getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Pioneer?
How does Pioneer compare to other schools in Delano?
How does Pioneer serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 51
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 50
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
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 | 94 | 20% | 31% | 27% | 22% | 51% | +8 |
| Grade 4 | 109 | 18% | 20% | 23% | 39% | 39% | −6 |
| Grade 5 | 106 | 17% | 17% | 23% | 43% | 34% | −14 |
| Grade 6 | 136 | 26% | 28% | 24% | 22% | 54% | +7 |
| Grade 7 | 157 | 29% | 33% | 21% | 17% | 62% | +15 |
| Grade 8 | 122 | 19% | 34% | 33% | 14% | 53% | +7 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 94 | 19% | 28% | 19% | 34% | 47% | +1 |
| Grade 4 | 110 | 7% | 25% | 35% | 33% | 33% | −9 |
| Grade 5 | 106 | 15% | 11% | 21% | 53% | 26% | −9 |
| Grade 6 | 139 | 21% | 26% | 19% | 35% | 47% | +12 |
| Grade 7 | 159 | 22% | 22% | 26% | 30% | 44% | +10 |
| Grade 8 | 123 | 14% | 31% | 32% | 24% | 45% | +12 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 228 | 4% | 16% | 66% | 14% |
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 | 645 | 48.2% | +1 | +10 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 667 | 48.7% | +1 | +10 |
| English Learners | 186 | 13.4% | −2 | +3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer ← | — | 42 | 16.2% | 38.3% | −18.7 | 0.9% |
| Del Vista Math and Science Academy | 2 mi | 52 | 17.1% | 41.0% | +3.9 | 0.4% |
| Fremont Elementary | 0.8 mi | 51 | 10.2% | 28.4% | +13.5 | 0.3% |
| Nueva Vista Language Academy | 0.9 mi | 50 | 21.2% | 45.3% | −7.3 | 0.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 36 | 32 | #3728 | 8.6% | 26.3% | 4.6% | 3.1% | +4.0pp |
| 2022 | 25 | 21 | #4541 | 7.2% | 20.8% | 25.2% | 1.7% | -2.4pp |
| 2023 | 34 | 36 | #3675 | 10.3% | 25.9% | 19.4% | 1.5% | -1.7pp |
| 2024 | 42 | 49 | #2926 | 10.1% | 31.0% | 12.6% | 3.1% | -7.3pp |
| 2025 | 42 | 48 | #3015 | 16.2% | 38.3% | 9.5% | 0.9% | -18.7pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.1% | 7.7% | +3.6pp |
| Male | 5.0% | 10.5% | +5.5pp |
| White | 5.1% | 0.0% | -5.1pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.5% | 9.0% | +4.5pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 8.1% | 10.4% | +2.3pp |
| English Learners | 4.4% | 8.0% | +3.6pp |
| Military-Connected | 5.6% | 6.3% | +0.7pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 4.9% | 10.2% | +5.3pp |
| All Students | 4.6% | 9.1% | +4.5pp |
| Black/African American | — | 58.3% | — |
| Foster Youth | — | 15.4% | — |
| Homeless | — | 46.2% | — |
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