Santa Ynez Elementary: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
Santa Ynez posts 53% meeting the standard, and 24.7% 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 | 51 | 25% | 53% | -1.3 | 9.9% | 1.8% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Santa Ynez Elementary scores 51 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 68th 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 “53% proficient” and call it done. Santa Ynez deserves a closer read. The school sits in Santa Ynez, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Santa Ynez's low-income kids hit 53.8% 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
Slipped from the 78th to the 68th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 53% meet the standard today, versus 60% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 59% | 60% | 46% | 46% | 56% |
| Grade 4 | 70% | 61% | 63% | 42% | 50% |
| Grade 5 | 67% | 43% | 38% | 64% | 75% |
| Grade 6 | 65% | 79% | 52% | 48% | 69% |
| Grade 7 | 50% | 73% | 50% | 58% | 52% |
| Grade 8 | 92% | 72% | 59% | 65% | 62% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 47% | 60% | 57% | 62% | 56% |
| Grade 4 | 75% | 65% | 50% | 50% | 43% |
| Grade 5 | 42% | 29% | 42% | 43% | 35% |
| Grade 6 | 46% | 79% | 52% | 39% | 47% |
| Grade 7 | 39% | 14% | 18% | 35% | 38% |
| Grade 8 | 54% | 25% | 14% | 41% | 31% |
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 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 Santa Ynez Elementary in Santa Ynez, 53.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 53.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Santa Ynez Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (30.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (52.8% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 26 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
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
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.
$709 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 147 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
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 Santa Ynez Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Santa Ynez Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Santa Ynez Elementary rank in California?
Is Santa Ynez Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Santa Ynez Elementary?
How does Santa Ynez Elementary compare to other schools in Santa Ynez?
How does Santa Ynez Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 47
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 | 16 | 31% | 25% | 25% | 19% | 56% | +13 |
| Grade 4 | 14 | 21% | 29% | 7% | 43% | 50% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 20 | 25% | 50% | 10% | 15% | 75% | +27 |
| Grade 6 | 16 | 19% | 50% | 13% | 19% | 69% | +22 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 14% | 38% | 14% | 33% | 52% | +5 |
| Grade 8 | 26 | 27% | 35% | 31% | 8% | 62% | +15 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 16 | 25% | 31% | 25% | 19% | 56% | +11 |
| Grade 4 | 14 | 36% | 7% | 21% | 36% | 43% | +1 |
| Grade 5 | 20 | 10% | 25% | 30% | 35% | 35% | −0 |
| Grade 6 | 15 | 27% | 20% | 33% | 20% | 47% | +12 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 24% | 14% | 29% | 33% | 38% | +4 |
| Grade 8 | 26 | 15% | 15% | 23% | 46% | 31% | −2 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 46 | 13% | 33% | 50% | 4% |
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 | 53.8% | +0 | +16 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 53 | 52.8% | +0 | +14 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Ynez Elementary ← | — | 51 | 24.7% | 52.6% | −1.3 | 1.8% |
| Ballard Elementary | 2.2 mi | 55 | 33.4% | 68.0% | +1.8 | 1.0% |
| Santa Ynez Valley Charter | 0.3 mi | 40 | 16.2% | 35.6% | −19.6 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 58 | 78 | #1223 | 22.3% | 59.9% | 4.4% | 1.1% | +1.2pp |
| 2022 | 41 | 62 | #2170 | 32.4% | 52.9% | 12.8% | 1.8% | -24.3pp |
| 2023 | 35 | 39 | #3472 | 19.6% | 49.0% | 12.6% | 6.3% | -11.6pp |
| 2024 | 49 | 67 | #1871 | 28.0% | 51.1% | 10.4% | 2.2% | -0.3pp |
| 2025 | 51 | 68 | #1834 | 24.7% | 52.6% | 9.9% | 1.8% | -1.3pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 3.8% | 10.0% | +6.2pp |
| Male | 4.3% | 4.9% | +0.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 3.3% | 6.5% | +3.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.5% | 7.7% | -1.8pp |
| English Learners | 0.0% | 4.3% | +4.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 4.9% | 12.2% | +7.3pp |
| All Students | 4.1% | 7.5% | +3.4pp |
| Homeless | — | 23.1% | — |
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