Plaza Elementary: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
Plaza posts 71% meeting the standard, and 38.2% going well past it. Most kids here keep up. Fewer get pushed further. Ask the school what it does for a child who already finds the work easy.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49 | 38% | 71% | -23.9 | 6.0% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Plaza Elementary scores 49 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 65th 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 →
🏫 Solid Base — Ask what the school does for a kid who's already meeting the standard with room to spare — steady proficiency across the board doesn't tell you whether the strongest kids are being pushed further.
Most rating sites would stop at “71% proficient” and call it done. Plaza deserves a closer read. The school sits in Orland, where one in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 6.0% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 65th percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 71% of students meet the standard today, above the 62% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 74% | 64% | 75% | 86% | 70% |
| Grade 4 | 48% | 68% | 48% | 78% | 77% |
| Grade 5 | 70% | 50% | 67% | 33% | 70% |
| Grade 6 | 73% | 55% | 48% | 67% | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 45% | 78% | 79% | 57% | 71% |
| Grade 8 | 67% | 78% | 58% | 71% | 70% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 83% | 77% | 96% | 91% | 87% |
| Grade 4 | 35% | 41% | 48% | 74% | 82% |
| Grade 5 | 61% | 36% | 57% | 38% | 39% |
| Grade 6 | 77% | 50% | 64% | 57% | 39% |
| Grade 7 | 68% | 70% | 53% | 62% | 71% |
| Grade 8 | 71% | 79% | 71% | 41% | 53% |
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 8.7pp across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. 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 how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- 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 Plaza Elementary in Orland, 67.9% of white students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 67.9% district-wide and 61.8% statewide. Plaza Elementary outperforms its district average for white students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: White students (67.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (59.1% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 56 students tested.
6 of 11 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
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of TK/K students (6.8% vs 2.9%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$2,335 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 215 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), 55% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Plaza Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Plaza Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Plaza Elementary rank in California?
Is Plaza Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Plaza Elementary?
How does Plaza Elementary compare to other schools in Orland?
How does Plaza Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
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 | 23 | 39% | 30% | 17% | 13% | 70% | +26 |
| Grade 4 | 22 | 41% | 36% | 14% | 9% | 77% | +32 |
| Grade 5 | 23 | 30% | 39% | 17% | 13% | 70% | +22 |
| Grade 6 | 23 | 0% | 30% | 39% | 30% | 30% | −16 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 14% | 57% | 19% | 10% | 71% | +24 |
| Grade 8 | 20 | 20% | 50% | 20% | 10% | 70% | +24 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 23 | 65% | 22% | 9% | 4% | 87% | +41 |
| Grade 4 | 22 | 32% | 50% | 18% | 0% | 82% | +40 |
| Grade 5 | 23 | 22% | 17% | 48% | 13% | 39% | +4 |
| Grade 6 | 23 | 17% | 22% | 30% | 30% | 39% | +4 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 43% | 29% | 19% | 10% | 71% | +37 |
| Grade 8 | 19 | 37% | 16% | 21% | 26% | 53% | +20 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 42 | 14% | 40% | 40% | 5% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 56 | 67.9% | +0 | +6 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 22 | 59.1% | +0 | +20 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaza Elementary ← | — | 49 | 38.2% | 70.7% | −23.9 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 53 | 71 | #1577 | 26.1% | 61.6% | 2.2% | 1.4% | -13.0pp |
| 2022 | 46 | 70 | #1727 | 25.8% | 56.1% | 5.5% | 0.5% | -27.3pp |
| 2023 | 47 | 67 | #1880 | 36.2% | 65.0% | 6.1% | 1.0% | -23.5pp |
| 2024 | 42 | 51 | #2805 | 32.4% | 66.8% | 9.8% | 0.7% | -52.9pp |
| 2025 | 49 | 65 | #2035 | 38.2% | 70.7% | 6.0% | 0.3% | -23.9pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 2.0% | 3.4% | +1.4pp |
| Male | 1.8% | 3.1% | +1.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 2.8% | 3.8% | +1.0pp |
| Two or More Races | 8.3% | — | — |
| Students with Disabilities | 0.0% | 9.5% | +9.5pp |
| English Learners | 0.0% | 11.8% | +11.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 3.2% | 8.5% | +5.3pp |
| All Students | 1.9% | 3.3% | +1.4pp |
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