Vista Springs Charter: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Vista Springs Charter posts 34% meeting the standard and 18.8% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 34 | 19% | 34% | -17.8 | 13.7% | 0.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Vista Springs Charter scores 34 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 27th 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “34% proficient” and call it done. Vista Springs Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Vista, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
As a charter, Vista Springs Charter enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 51st to the 27th percentile since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 34% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 33% | 12% | 39% | 43% | 33% |
| Grade 4 | — | 33% | 45% | 31% | 30% |
| Grade 5 | — | 31% | 36% | 45% | 30% |
| Grade 6 | — | 44% | 21% | 33% | 42% |
| Grade 7 | 45% | 6% | 37% | 22% | 52% |
| Grade 8 | 38% | 27% | 42% | 29% | 10% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 33% | 12% | 45% | 57% | 48% |
| Grade 4 | — | 23% | 32% | 21% | 48% |
| Grade 5 | — | 13% | 7% | 25% | 15% |
| Grade 6 | — | 33% | 11% | 17% | 25% |
| Grade 7 | 18% | 6% | 32% | 11% | 14% |
| Grade 8 | 23% | 0% | 5% | 14% | 5% |
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 13.4pp across grades; the floor slips 3.0pp. 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 5 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 what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 Vista Springs Charter in Vista, 20.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 20.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Vista Springs Charter outperforms its district average for low-income students by 0.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (15.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (23.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 11.8 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 88 students tested.
7 of 12 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 4.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -4.2pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of TK/K students (31.1% vs 5.6%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Vista Springs Charter serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
The people teaching here
What gets spent here
$538 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
59% of district spending reaches instruction — CA average is 56%.
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 251 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 13% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Vista Springs Charter a good elementary school?
What are Vista Springs Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Vista Springs Charter rank in California?
Is Vista Springs Charter getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Vista Springs Charter?
How does Vista Springs Charter compare to other schools in Vista?
How does Vista Springs Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 48
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 42
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
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 | 21 | 29% | 5% | 29% | 38% | 33% | −10 |
| Grade 4 | 23 | 22% | 9% | 39% | 30% | 30% | −14 |
| Grade 5 | 33 | 15% | 15% | 33% | 36% | 30% | −18 |
| Grade 6 | 12 | 25% | 17% | 33% | 25% | 42% | −5 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 14% | 38% | 38% | 10% | 52% | +5 |
| Grade 8 | 20 | 5% | 5% | 25% | 65% | 10% | −36 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 21 | 24% | 24% | 19% | 33% | 48% | +2 |
| Grade 4 | 23 | 17% | 30% | 30% | 22% | 48% | +6 |
| Grade 5 | 33 | 6% | 9% | 21% | 64% | 15% | −20 |
| Grade 6 | 12 | 8% | 17% | 25% | 50% | 25% | −10 |
| Grade 7 | 21 | 5% | 10% | 48% | 38% | 14% | −20 |
| Grade 8 | 20 | 0% | 5% | 5% | 90% | 5% | −27 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 53 | 2% | 11% | 58% | 28% |
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 | 88 | 20.5% | +0 | −18 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 94 | 23.4% | +0 | −15 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vista Springs Charter ← | — | 34 | 18.8% | 34.1% | −17.8 | 0.3% |
| Guajome Park Academy Charter | 1.1 mi | 50 | 27.3% | 60.0% | −3.1 | 3.4% |
| Guajome Learning Center | 1.1 mi | 48 | 18.8% | 40.6% | — | 1.8% |
| T.H.E Leadership Academy | 2.1 mi | 46 | 18.6% | 45.6% | +4.4 | 1.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 43 | 51 | #2710 | 25.0% | 33.3% | 16.8% | 0.3% | — |
| 2022 | 37 | 53 | #2701 | 11.0% | 20.7% | 13.9% | 1.2% | +9.9pp |
| 2023 | 26 | 16 | #4782 | 8.7% | 34.0% | 16.7% | 4.3% | -20.5pp |
| 2024 | 49 | 66 | #1942 | 15.7% | 37.0% | 15.8% | 3.1% | -15.0pp |
| 2025 | 34 | 27 | #4177 | 18.8% | 34.1% | 13.7% | 0.3% | -17.8pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 18 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 14.0% | 13.0% | -1.0pp |
| Male | 23.0% | 12.8% | -10.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 17.6% | 13.9% | -3.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 15.8% | 18.2% | +2.4pp |
| English Learners | 26.5% | 14.5% | -12.0pp |
| Homeless | 30.4% | 16.7% | -13.7pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 19.0% | 15.8% | -3.2pp |
| All Students | 18.2% | 12.9% | -5.3pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 13.3% | — |
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