Thomas Jefferson Elementary: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Thomas Jefferson posts 41.1% meeting the standard — versus 42.7% 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 | 53 | 17% | 41% | -0.7 | 21.4% | 1.2% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Thomas Jefferson Elementary scores 53 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 72nd 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 “41% proficient” and call it done. Thomas Jefferson deserves a closer read. The school sits in Bellflower, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: +0.7pp separates this year's grade 3 from its grade 5. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G3 → 2025 G5 points the same way.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 48th to the 72nd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 1300 elementary schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 41% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 52% | 27% | 24% | 37% | 42% |
| Grade 4 | 34% | 25% | 47% | 44% | 50% |
| Grade 5 | 53% | 44% | 41% | 51% | 53% |
| Grade 6 | 47% | 48% | 46% | 45% | 48% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 38% | 26% | 21% | 22% | 44% |
| Grade 4 | 17% | 33% | 37% | 36% | 28% |
| Grade 5 | 40% | 28% | 34% | 36% | 31% |
| Grade 6 | 20% | 26% | 27% | 30% | 33% |
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 6.4pp across grades; the floor rises 11.3pp. 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 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 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 Thomas Jefferson Elementary in Bellflower, 47.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 43.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Thomas Jefferson Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (32.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (47.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 30.0 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 243 students tested.
6 of 15 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 rises by 11.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (38.0% vs 18.1%). 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.
$396 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 Thomas Jefferson Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Thomas Jefferson Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Thomas Jefferson Elementary rank in California?
Is Thomas Jefferson Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Thomas Jefferson Elementary?
How does Thomas Jefferson Elementary compare to other schools in Bellflower?
How does Thomas Jefferson Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 66
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 | 77 | 22% | 19% | 26% | 32% | 42% | −2 |
| Grade 4 | 60 | 23% | 27% | 15% | 35% | 50% | +5 |
| Grade 5 | 70 | 16% | 37% | 27% | 20% | 53% | +5 |
| Grade 6 | 66 | 20% | 29% | 26% | 26% | 48% | +2 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 78 | 12% | 32% | 27% | 29% | 44% | −2 |
| Grade 4 | 61 | 10% | 18% | 39% | 33% | 28% | −14 |
| Grade 5 | 71 | 17% | 14% | 32% | 37% | 31% | −4 |
| Grade 6 | 66 | 18% | 15% | 32% | 35% | 33% | −2 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 70 | 6% | 20% | 60% | 14% |
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 | 243 | 47.3% | +4 | +9 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 175 | 47.4% | +3 | +9 |
| English Learners | 65 | 21.5% | +5 | +11 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Jefferson Elementary ← | — | 53 | 16.6% | 41.1% | −0.7 | 1.2% |
| Las Flores Home Education Independent Study Academ | 0.5 mi | 70 | 31.1% | 64.6% | −4.0 | 0.6% |
| Bragg Elementary | 2 mi | 65 | 38.2% | 70.6% | +0.5 | 0.1% |
| Cleveland Elementary | 1.9 mi | 62 | 42.0% | 76.2% | +0.9 | 1.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 41 | 48 | #2888 | 13.5% | 38.8% | 7.4% | 1.2% | +2.0pp |
| 2022 | 43 | 67 | #1920 | 9.4% | 30.6% | 35.6% | 3.0% | +9.5pp |
| 2023 | 45 | 65 | #2024 | 12.7% | 33.9% | 28.2% | 3.6% | +15.2pp |
| 2024 | 53 | 74 | #1491 | 16.6% | 37.7% | 25.6% | 1.0% | +13.8pp |
| 2025 | 53 | 72 | #1624 | 16.6% | 41.1% | 21.4% | 1.2% | -0.7pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 6.9% | 19.6% | +12.7pp |
| Male | 7.7% | 23.3% | +15.6pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 13.6% | +13.6pp |
| Black/African American | 9.2% | 37.8% | +28.6pp |
| White | 0.0% | 5.9% | +5.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.6% | 19.1% | +11.5pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 2.1% | 26.4% | +24.3pp |
| English Learners | 2.1% | 16.8% | +14.7pp |
| Foster Youth | 33.3% | 33.3% | +0.0pp |
| Homeless | 15.8% | 45.8% | +30.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.7% | 22.7% | +15.0pp |
| All Students | 7.3% | 21.6% | +14.3pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 28.6% | — |
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