Santiago Hills Elementary: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Santiago Hills posts 66.6% exceeding the standard — versus 21.3% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 95 | 67% | 86% | +3.7 | 5.9% | 0.7% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Santiago Hills Elementary scores 95 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 99th 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 →
⭐ High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “86% proficient” and call it done. Santiago Hills deserves a closer read. It sits at the 99th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
Santiago Hills's low-income kids hit 70.0% 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
Has held the 99th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 86% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 82% | 74% | 73% | 73% | 85% |
| Grade 4 | 88% | 84% | 89% | 92% | 83% |
| Grade 5 | 87% | 86% | 91% | 90% | 86% |
| Grade 6 | 91% | 90% | 85% | 84% | 90% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 85% | 84% | 82% | 83% | 85% |
| Grade 4 | 87% | 84% | 89% | 93% | 86% |
| Grade 5 | 82% | 80% | 79% | 91% | 91% |
| Grade 6 | 84% | 79% | 80% | 82% | 90% |
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 6.2pp across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. 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.
Santiago Hills's most underrated number
70.0% 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 what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- 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 Santiago Hills Elementary in Irvine, 70.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 58.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Santiago Hills Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 11.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (73.6% Math proficient); Asian students (89.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 52.5 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 40 students tested.
6 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.
Low-income student ELA proficiency falls by 8.4pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +6.0pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (7.6% vs 2.5%). 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
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), 80% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Santiago Hills Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Santiago Hills Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Santiago Hills Elementary rank in California?
Is Santiago Hills Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Santiago Hills Elementary?
How does Santiago Hills Elementary compare to other schools in Irvine?
How does Santiago Hills Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 87
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 72
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 | 60 | 63% | 22% | 7% | 8% | 85% | +42 |
| Grade 4 | 115 | 68% | 15% | 8% | 10% | 83% | +38 |
| Grade 5 | 92 | 70% | 16% | 10% | 4% | 86% | +38 |
| Grade 6 | 89 | 70% | 20% | 6% | 4% | 90% | +43 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 60 | 55% | 30% | 12% | 3% | 85% | +39 |
| Grade 4 | 117 | 68% | 18% | 11% | 3% | 86% | +45 |
| Grade 5 | 94 | 76% | 16% | 5% | 3% | 91% | +56 |
| Grade 6 | 94 | 77% | 14% | 6% | 3% | 90% | +55 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 94 | 61% | 19% | 20% | 0% |
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 | 40 | 70.0% | +11 | +32 |
| Asian | 249 | 89.6% | +9 | +15 |
| White | 30 | 70.0% | −0 | +8 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago Hills Elementary ← | — | 95 | 66.6% | 86.0% | +3.7 | 0.7% |
| Deerfield Elementary | 2.5 mi | 88 | 55.7% | 75.7% | +9.1 | 0.9% |
| Orchard Hills | 1.5 mi | 88 | 65.2% | 86.0% | +7.0 | 1.4% |
| Tustin Memorial Elementary | 2.7 mi | 85 | 60.7% | 88.3% | −0.1 | 0.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 87 | 99 | #53 | 65.3% | 85.2% | 4.9% | 0.2% | +0.9pp |
| 2022 | 81 | 99 | #75 | 61.7% | 82.0% | 8.1% | 0.4% | +4.2pp |
| 2023 | 89 | 99 | #31 | 65.2% | 84.0% | 9.2% | 0.2% | +8.1pp |
| 2024 | 94 | 99 | #3 | 65.2% | 86.9% | 5.1% | 1.0% | +11.8pp |
| 2025 | 95 | 99 | #4 | 66.6% | 86.0% | 5.9% | 0.7% | +3.7pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 3.1% | 4.8% | +1.7pp |
| Male | 6.4% | 5.5% | -0.9pp |
| Asian | 3.3% | 3.5% | +0.2pp |
| White | 9.1% | 8.3% | -0.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 12.7% | 16.7% | +4.0pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.7% | 3.6% | -2.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 14.7% | 9.1% | -5.6pp |
| English Learners | 4.7% | 4.4% | -0.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.4% | 11.4% | +4.0pp |
| All Students | 4.8% | 5.2% | +0.4pp |
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