Richard Henry Dana Elementary: 59% of kids clear the bar — ahead of the state's 43%. But this year's 5th graders test below its 3rd graders.
Richard Henry Dana posts 59% 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 | 54 | 33% | 59% | -17.2 | 17.2% | 0.5% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Richard Henry Dana Elementary scores 54 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 73rd 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 “59% proficient” and call it done. Richard Henry Dana deserves a closer read. The school sits in Dana Point, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Richard Henry Dana's low-income kids hit 50.0% 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
Climbed from the 33rd to the 73rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 2100 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 59% of students meet the standard today, above the 37% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 41% | 38% | 54% | 50% | 64% |
| Grade 4 | 33% | 24% | 48% | 50% | 65% |
| Grade 5 | 45% | 56% | 23% | 46% | 60% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 52% | 42% | 57% | 52% | 71% |
| Grade 4 | 32% | 17% | 37% | 50% | 57% |
| Grade 5 | 21% | 41% | 7% | 26% | 40% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students met or exceeded the standard, versus 42.7% statewide.
proficiency runs 67% in this year's grade 3 against 50% in its grade 5. 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 falls 7.2pp across grades; the floor slips 3.2pp. The state average rises 4.5pp 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.
Richard Henry Dana's most underrated number
50.0% 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 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.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Richard Henry Dana Elementary in Dana Point, 50.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 55.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Richard Henry Dana Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 5.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (42.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (43.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 43.1 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 88 students tested.
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 3.8pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (25.0% vs 15.5%). 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.
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
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$372 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), 46% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Richard Henry Dana Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Richard Henry Dana Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Richard Henry Dana Elementary rank in California?
Is Richard Henry Dana Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Richard Henry Dana Elementary?
How does Richard Henry Dana Elementary compare to other schools in Dana Point?
How does Richard Henry Dana Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 63
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 | 55 | 36% | 27% | 11% | 25% | 64% | +20 |
| Grade 4 | 49 | 33% | 33% | 8% | 27% | 65% | +21 |
| Grade 5 | 48 | 29% | 31% | 23% | 17% | 60% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 58 | 38% | 33% | 14% | 16% | 71% | +25 |
| Grade 4 | 49 | 35% | 22% | 16% | 27% | 57% | +16 |
| Grade 5 | 48 | 25% | 15% | 23% | 38% | 40% | +4 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 48 | 29% | 17% | 44% | 10% |
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 | 88 | 50.0% | −5 | +12 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 82 | 43.9% | −8 | +5 |
| White | 57 | 87.7% | +9 | +26 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Henry Dana Elementary ← | — | 54 | 32.6% | 59.5% | −17.2 | 0.5% |
| John Malcom Elementary | 1.8 mi | 66 | 41.1% | 69.4% | −4.0 | 1.4% |
| Capistrano Home/Virtual | 2.2 mi | 64 | 38.0% | 68.6% | −14.2 | 0.5% |
| Palisades Elementary | 2.3 mi | 57 | 33.5% | 61.5% | +4.5 | 3.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 36 | 33 | #3676 | 11.6% | 37.4% | 8.4% | 0.1% | -13.7pp |
| 2022 | 38 | 56 | #2517 | 11.4% | 36.4% | 27.4% | 0.5% | +7.8pp |
| 2023 | 22 | 9 | #5230 | 18.6% | 37.6% | 22.5% | 0.4% | -40.2pp |
| 2024 | 44 | 56 | #2495 | 21.9% | 45.7% | 18.9% | 0.2% | -15.0pp |
| 2025 | 54 | 73 | #1535 | 32.6% | 59.5% | 17.2% | 0.5% | -17.2pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.8% | 14.2% | +6.4pp |
| Male | 8.8% | 20.0% | +11.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.4% | 17.5% | +11.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 14.8% | 35.6% | +20.8pp |
| English Learners | 5.1% | 17.3% | +12.2pp |
| Homeless | 5.6% | 18.7% | +13.1pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 8.0% | 19.7% | +11.7pp |
| All Students | 8.3% | 17.1% | +8.8pp |
| Filipino | — | 43.2% | — |
| Two or More Races | — | 14.3% | — |
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