San Rafael Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
San Rafael posts 49% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45 | 26% | 49% | -30.7 | 13.9% | 0.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
San Rafael Elementary scores 45 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 56th 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 “49% proficient” and call it done. San Rafael deserves a closer read. The school sits in Pasadena, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 32.1% of English learners reached the top ELPAC level, versus 18.0% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 85th to the 56th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 49% meet the standard today, versus 55% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 52% | 47% | 41% | 70% | 52% |
| Grade 4 | 56% | 58% | 48% | 33% | 71% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 62% | 54% | 39% | 34% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 49% | 38% | 37% | 69% | 61% |
| Grade 4 | 49% | 47% | 35% | 42% | 59% |
| Grade 5 | 55% | 36% | 38% | 41% | 17% |
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 14.9pp across grades; the floor slips 17.7pp. 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 San Rafael Elementary in Pasadena, 33.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. San Rafael Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 1.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (30.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (42.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 17.0 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 86 students tested.
7 of 13 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 19.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +0.4pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (18.4% vs 5.6%). 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
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.
$321 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), 26% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is San Rafael Elementary a good elementary school?
What are San Rafael Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does San Rafael Elementary rank in California?
Is San Rafael Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at San Rafael Elementary?
How does San Rafael Elementary compare to other schools in Pasadena?
How does San Rafael Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 78
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 | 66 | 29% | 23% | 30% | 18% | 52% | +8 |
| Grade 4 | 58 | 53% | 17% | 17% | 12% | 71% | +26 |
| Grade 5 | 65 | 14% | 20% | 25% | 42% | 34% | −14 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 66 | 23% | 38% | 33% | 6% | 61% | +15 |
| Grade 4 | 58 | 33% | 26% | 24% | 17% | 59% | +17 |
| Grade 5 | 65 | 6% | 11% | 32% | 51% | 17% | −18 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 65 | 3% | 23% | 63% | 11% |
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 | 86 | 33.7% | −2 | −5 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 147 | 42.2% | +5 | +3 |
| Students with Disabilities | 25 | 28.0% | +11 | +11 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Rafael Elementary ← | — | 45 | 26.3% | 48.7% | −30.7 | 0.1% |
| Marengo Elementary | 2.4 mi | 84 | 66.9% | 88.8% | −5.4 | 0.2% |
| Monterey Hills Elementary | 2.3 mi | 76 | 52.0% | 78.3% | +4.5 | 0.7% |
| Arroyo Vista Elementary | 1.6 mi | 75 | 59.8% | 83.8% | −11.7 | 0.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 64 | 85 | #816 | 30.2% | 55.4% | 4.6% | 0.2% | +12.2pp |
| 2022 | 52 | 78 | #1240 | 21.5% | 48.0% | 18.0% | 0.0% | +7.0pp |
| 2023 | 45 | 64 | #2072 | 17.8% | 42.2% | 19.0% | 0.0% | +6.4pp |
| 2024 | 47 | 62 | #2161 | 24.2% | 49.2% | 13.1% | 0.1% | -29.5pp |
| 2025 | 45 | 56 | #2546 | 26.3% | 48.7% | 13.9% | 0.1% | -30.7pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.9% | 13.3% | +8.4pp |
| Male | 4.2% | 13.9% | +9.7pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | — | — |
| Black/African American | 4.2% | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.8% | 15.4% | +10.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 4.7% | 10.9% | +6.2pp |
| English Learners | 9.4% | 26.8% | +17.4pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 6.8% | 20.6% | +13.8pp |
| All Students | 4.5% | 13.6% | +9.1pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 4.0% | — |
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