ExploreMapCompareBlogSign in
Sylvia Cassell Elementary · CaliforniaPublic

Sylvia Cassell Elementary: The state doesn't publish enough data to score this school fairly.

Sylvia Cassell is an elementary school. The state doesn't publish enough data to score it fairly — so we won't. Here's what we can show.

Alum Rock Union Elementary·282 students·88% low-income

No Scope Score available

California doesn't publicly report per-grade test results when fewer than 11 students are tested in a grade — a privacy protection for small schools. We can't compute a Scope Score without that data.

The story this school is actually telling

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.

10%
10%
80%
Grade 3 · 20% proficient
13%
11%
76%
Grade 4 · 24% proficient
14%
14%
72%
Grade 5 · 28% proficient

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits a little above the middle of California elementary schools in reading, and the 51st in math. We show it; we don't score it.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +9 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 76th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.76th pctile · +9 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: +1 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 51st percentile of 7,518 reported schools.51st pctile · +1 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California elementary school lands at +2 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −5 and +9 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

Worth a school visit

With little published data, a visit does the heavy lifting: ask about class sizes, teacher tenure, and where last year's students went next.

  • Ask about typical class sizes and the student-teacher ratio.
  • Ask how long teachers have stayed at the school.
  • Ask where recent graduates or transfers went next.
  • Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom, and watch how a lesson actually runs.

How every group of students does here

At Sylvia Cassell Elementary in California, 17.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 23.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Sylvia Cassell Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 6.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (7.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (17.3% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 11.1 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 99 students tested.

All students at this school: 19% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 19%, district —, state 43%19%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 12%, district 20%, state 32%12% · −7 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 14%, district 19%, state 32%14% · −5 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 19%, district 26%, state 44%19% · +0 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 8%, district 5%, state 11%8% · −11 vs school
MaleMale: this school 19%, district 23%, state 42%19% · −0 vs school

7 of 13 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
Subgroup growth by grade

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 10.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.2pp.

The state's growth model, by student group

California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California elementary school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.

Reading
Low-income students61 studentsLow-income students, reading: +6 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 61 students.+6 pts · +6 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students60 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: +6 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 60 students.+6 pts · +5 vs typical
English Learner38 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: +12 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 38 students.+12 pts · +14 vs typical
English Only30 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +5 scale-score points versus expectation, against +3 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.+5 pts · +2 vs typical
Math
Low-income students61 studentsLow-income students, math: −1 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 61 students.−1 pts · 0 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students60 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −2 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 60 students.−2 pts · −1 vs typical
English Learner38 studentsEnglish Learner, math: +7 scale-score points versus expectation, against +2 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 38 students.+7 pts · +5 vs typical
English Only30 studentsEnglish Only, math: −7 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California elementary school, 30 students.−7 pts · −8 vs typical
this school typical California elementary school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 2 more groups are reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path
Elementary
Sylvia Cassell Elementary
No score
This school
High School
No feeder data available for this level

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

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 20:1, district 20:120:1
Teaching staff18 teachers
Avg. experience11.2 years
Fully credentialed87%
First-year teachers17%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$69,440 – $129,227
Principal salaryFrom $141,402
Superintendent salary$253,750

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $22,266, CA average $14,491$22,266 · spent at this school
Federal share$159 per student

$159 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$24,712 per student

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction62%
Instruction support9%
Student services12%
Administration7%
Buildings & maintenance9%
Other1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$16,303 per pupil
2019$15,527 per pupil
2018$16,178 per pupil
2017$13,726 per pupil
2016$12,634 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic80.8%
District 79.7% · CA 56.1%
Asian10.6%
District 11.6% · CA 10.2%
Other6.4%
District 6.6% · CA 9.0%
White1.4%
District 1.4% · CA 19.9%
Black0.7%
District 0.7% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 87.6% (24pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$104K · CA $85K
Median home value$873K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+19% · CA 35%
ZIP population50,775
Median age37 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Worth Knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 19% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.


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