Trabuco Elementary: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Trabuco posts 48% meeting the standard against 43% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49 | 17% | 48% | +8.6 | 24.2% | 2.0% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Trabuco Elementary scores 49 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 66th 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “48% proficient” and call it done. Trabuco deserves a closer read. The school sits in Trabuco Canyon, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 66th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 48% meet the standard today, versus 54% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | — | 40% | 46% | 43% |
| Grade 4 | 54% | 65% | — | 32% | 53% |
| Grade 5 | — | — | 71% | — | 50% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | — | 44% | 69% | 50% |
| Grade 4 | 54% | 70% | — | 32% | 33% |
| Grade 5 | — | — | 59% | — | 60% |
| Grade 6 | — | — | 36% | 61% | — |
The 5 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 how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- 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
11 of 13 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
Grades 4–6 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of TK/K students (26.8% vs 7.1%). 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
$15 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 90 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
On the state's science test (CAST), 60% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Trabuco Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Trabuco Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Trabuco Elementary rank in California?
Is Trabuco Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Trabuco Elementary?
How does Trabuco Elementary compare to other schools in Trabuco Canyon?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 61
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 | 14 | 14% | 29% | 36% | 21% | 43% | −1 |
| Grade 4 | 15 | 20% | 33% | 13% | 33% | 53% | +9 |
| Grade 5 | 20 | 10% | 40% | 25% | 25% | 50% | +2 |
| Grade 6 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 14 | 21% | 29% | 14% | 36% | 50% | +4 |
| Grade 4 | 15 | 20% | 13% | 40% | 27% | 33% | −8 |
| Grade 5 | 20 | 15% | 45% | 15% | 25% | 60% | +25 |
| Grade 6 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 20 | 10% | 50% | 35% | 5% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trabuco Elementary ← | — | 49 | 16.8% | 48.3% | +8.6 | 2.0% |
| Arroyo Vista Elementary | 3 mi | 66 | 38.4% | 69.8% | −1.0 | 1.3% |
| Melinda Heights Elementary | 1.8 mi | 59 | 29.2% | 57.8% | +3.5 | 0.8% |
| Tijeras Creek Elementary | 2.4 mi | 58 | 45.2% | 70.7% | −13.6 | 0.7% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 49 | 64 | #1999 | 23.1% | 53.9% | 9.5% | 1.4% | — |
| 2022 | 55 | 83 | #995 | 32.5% | 67.5% | 29.8% | 4.6% | — |
| 2023 | 67 | 91 | #540 | 23.9% | 53.3% | 24.2% | 0.2% | +22.8pp |
| 2024 | 43 | 53 | #2683 | 14.8% | 44.6% | 12.5% | 0.5% | — |
| 2025 | 49 | 66 | #1952 | 16.8% | 48.3% | 24.2% | 2.0% | +8.6pp |
- — Subgroup results are suppressed for small student counts (fewer than 15 tested), following CDE privacy rules.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.1% | 28.6% | +21.5pp |
| Male | 10.8% | 24.0% | +13.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.3% | 29.6% | +25.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 6.3% | 11.1% | +4.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 21.1% | 22.9% | +1.8pp |
| All Students | 8.9% | 26.1% | +17.2pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 14.3% | — |
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