Tijeras Creek Elementary: Two in five kids exceed the standard. But this year's 5th graders test below its 3rd graders.
Tijeras Creek is one of the strongest elementary schools in Rancho Santa Margarita by raw achievement. The catch worth understanding: the cohort doesn't gain ground year-over-year.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58 | 45% | 71% | -13.6 | 9.1% | 0.7% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Tijeras Creek Elementary scores 58 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 80th 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 →
🏫 Solid Base — Ask what the school does for a kid who's already meeting the standard with room to spare — steady proficiency across the board doesn't tell you whether the strongest kids are being pushed further.
Most rating sites would stop at “71% proficient” and call it done. Tijeras Creek deserves a closer read. It sits at the 80th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
Tijeras Creek's low-income kids hit 62.9% 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 80th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 71% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 69% | 76% | 69% | 70% | 72% |
| Grade 4 | 72% | 82% | 83% | 59% | 77% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 90% | 83% | 77% | 71% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 82% | 85% | 73% | 70% | 77% |
| Grade 4 | 69% | 84% | 83% | 63% | 77% |
| Grade 5 | 70% | 66% | 64% | 73% | 51% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
proficiency runs 74% in this year's grade 3 against 61% in its grade 5. The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
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 5.3pp across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The school's 5th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 3rd graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Tijeras Creek's most underrated number
62.9% 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 the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 Tijeras Creek Elementary in Rancho Santa Margarita, 62.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 55.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Tijeras Creek Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 7.7 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (54.3% Math proficient); White students (74.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 15.9 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 35 students tested.
7 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 math proficiency falls by 34.6pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -6.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 4–6 students miss school at roughly one and a half times the rate of TK/K students (10.9% vs 6.7%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
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), 51% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tijeras Creek Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Tijeras Creek Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Tijeras Creek Elementary rank in California?
Is Tijeras Creek Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Tijeras Creek Elementary?
How does Tijeras Creek Elementary compare to other schools in Rancho Santa Margarita?
How does Tijeras Creek Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 75
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 | 74 | 43% | 28% | 20% | 8% | 72% | +28 |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 65% | 13% | 13% | 10% | 77% | +32 |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 38% | 33% | 10% | 19% | 71% | +23 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 74 | 42% | 35% | 14% | 9% | 77% | +31 |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 48% | 29% | 15% | 8% | 77% | +35 |
| Grade 5 | 59 | 36% | 15% | 20% | 29% | 51% | +16 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 59 | 15% | 36% | 41% | 8% |
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 | 35 | 62.9% | +8 | +25 |
| White | 95 | 74.7% | −4 | +13 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 24 | 70.8% | +19 | +32 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tijeras Creek Elementary ← | — | 58 | 45.2% | 70.7% | −13.6 | 0.7% |
| Las Flores Elementary | 3 mi | 82 | 51.8% | 78.0% | +8.6 | 0.7% |
| Philip J. Reilly Elementary | 2 mi | 78 | 57.0% | 81.8% | −8.0 | 0.3% |
| Arroyo Vista Elementary | 0.7 mi | 66 | 38.4% | 69.8% | −1.0 | 1.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 63 | 84 | #874 | 39.8% | 72.1% | 5.5% | 0.3% | -5.0pp |
| 2022 | 70 | 94 | #335 | 52.0% | 80.4% | 18.1% | 0.0% | -2.3pp |
| 2023 | 71 | 93 | #379 | 49.4% | 76.0% | 15.1% | 0.1% | +2.8pp |
| 2024 | 70 | 91 | #490 | 48.0% | 68.6% | 9.9% | 0.4% | +4.7pp |
| 2025 | 58 | 80 | #1149 | 45.2% | 70.7% | 9.1% | 0.7% | -13.6pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 5.3% | 5.7% | +0.4pp |
| Male | 5.4% | 11.1% | +5.7pp |
| Asian | 7.7% | 5.3% | -2.4pp |
| Filipino | 7.1% | 20.0% | +12.9pp |
| White | 9.1% | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.7% | 8.5% | +2.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 3.4% | 6.9% | +3.5pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.3% | 18.0% | +8.7pp |
| English Learners | 14.3% | 8.0% | -6.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.7% | 10.7% | -6.0pp |
| All Students | 5.3% | 8.4% | +3.1pp |
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