San Francisco Community Alternative: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
San Francisco Community Alternative posts 45% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38 | 19% | 45% | -6.8 | 27.8% | 1.6% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
San Francisco Community Alternative scores 38 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 37th 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 “45% proficient” and call it done. San Francisco Community Alternative deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Francisco, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 11th to the 37th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 1300 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 45% of students meet the standard today, above the 41% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 47% | 57% | 52% | 48% | 46% |
| Grade 4 | 33% | 56% | 53% | 44% | 52% |
| Grade 5 | 33% | 56% | 58% | 63% | 48% |
| Grade 6 | 32% | 31% | 42% | 50% | 21% |
| Grade 7 | 26% | 28% | 43% | 45% | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 31% | 50% | 29% | 37% | 29% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 53% | 50% | 48% | 36% | 46% |
| Grade 4 | 48% | 61% | 47% | 38% | 47% |
| Grade 5 | 33% | 38% | 48% | 41% | 31% |
| Grade 6 | 13% | 21% | 29% | 41% | 17% |
| Grade 7 | 19% | 16% | 29% | 40% | 18% |
| Grade 8 | 24% | 20% | 19% | 15% | 22% |
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 20.1pp across grades; the floor rises 1.9pp. 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 how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- 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 San Francisco Community Alternative in San Francisco, 15.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 38.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. San Francisco Community Alternative trails its district average for low-income students by 23.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (3.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (27.8% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 26 students tested.
8 of 14 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 twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (40.7% vs 22.2%). 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 230 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), 38% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is San Francisco Community Alternative a good elementary school?
What are San Francisco Community Alternative's CAASPP test scores?
How does San Francisco Community Alternative rank in California?
Is San Francisco Community Alternative getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at San Francisco Community Alternative?
How does San Francisco Community Alternative compare to other schools in San Francisco?
How does San Francisco Community Alternative serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 73
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 55
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 | 28 | 18% | 29% | 14% | 39% | 46% | +3 |
| Grade 4 | 31 | 19% | 32% | 26% | 23% | 52% | +7 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 38% | 10% | 10% | 41% | 48% | +0 |
| Grade 6 | 24 | 4% | 17% | 38% | 42% | 21% | −26 |
| Grade 7 | 11 | 27% | 9% | 27% | 36% | 36% | −11 |
| Grade 8 | 17 | 12% | 18% | 29% | 41% | 29% | −17 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 28 | 18% | 29% | 21% | 32% | 46% | +1 |
| Grade 4 | 30 | 10% | 37% | 33% | 20% | 47% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 10% | 21% | 24% | 45% | 31% | −4 |
| Grade 6 | 24 | 8% | 8% | 21% | 63% | 17% | −18 |
| Grade 7 | 11 | 9% | 9% | 27% | 55% | 18% | −16 |
| Grade 8 | 18 | 11% | 11% | 22% | 56% | 22% | −10 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 47 | 17% | 21% | 43% | 19% |
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 | 26 | 15.4% | −23 | −23 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 36 | 27.8% | +2 | −11 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Community Alternative ← | — | 38 | 18.9% | 45.1% | −6.8 | 1.6% |
| Yu (Alice Fong) Elementary | 3.1 mi | 80 | 55.5% | 81.7% | +2.6 | 0.1% |
| Clarendon Alternative Elementary | 2.3 mi | 70 | 48.7% | 71.9% | −2.3 | 0.5% |
| Grattan Elementary | 2.8 mi | 70 | 42.4% | 71.8% | +11.5 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 27 | 11 | #4894 | 14.5% | 41.3% | 23.0% | 3.6% | -16.7pp |
| 2022 | 44 | 68 | #1864 | 26.7% | 53.1% | 20.5% | 5.6% | -6.3pp |
| 2023 | 46 | 66 | #1958 | 24.1% | 51.0% | 32.2% | 8.7% | +3.0pp |
| 2024 | 46 | 61 | #2254 | 21.2% | 44.9% | 27.0% | 5.0% | +9.1pp |
| 2025 | 38 | 37 | #3593 | 18.9% | 45.1% | 27.8% | 1.6% | -6.8pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 23 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 26.6% | 31.4% | +4.8pp |
| Male | 20.4% | 28.2% | +7.8pp |
| Asian | 5.6% | 16.7% | +11.1pp |
| Black/African American | 47.4% | 57.7% | +10.3pp |
| White | 19.2% | 18.2% | -1.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 25.9% | 40.2% | +14.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 23.8% | 10.5% | -13.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 29.3% | 38.3% | +9.0pp |
| English Learners | 24.1% | 44.7% | +20.6pp |
| Homeless | 57.1% | 7.7% | -49.4pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 31.3% | 47.0% | +15.7pp |
| All Students | 23.4% | 29.5% | +6.1pp |
| Filipino | — | 18.2% | — |
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