Walnut Acres Elementary: More than half of kids exceed the standard. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.
Walnut Acres is one of the strongest elementary schools in Walnut Creek by raw achievement. The catch worth understanding: the cohort doesn't gain ground year-over-year.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 69 | 52% | 82% | -7.3 | 6.8% | 0.8% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Walnut Acres Elementary scores 69 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 91st 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 “82% proficient” and call it done. Walnut Acres deserves a closer read. It sits at the 91st percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
Walnut Acres's low-income kids hit 64.8% 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 91st-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 82% of students meet the standard today, above the 74% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 86% | 78% | 77% | 81% | 81% |
| Grade 4 | 73% | 71% | 86% | 80% | 84% |
| Grade 5 | 79% | 76% | 62% | 75% | 82% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 84% | 82% | 85% | 85% | 85% |
| Grade 4 | 57% | 76% | 78% | 73% | 86% |
| Grade 5 | 63% | 62% | 69% | 74% | 70% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students scored in the top band on the state test. The California average is 21.3%.
math proficiency runs 85% in grade 3 against 70% in grade 5, while reading holds (81% to 82%). 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 7.8pp 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.
Walnut Acres's most underrated number
64.8% 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 Walnut Acres Elementary in Walnut Creek, 64.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 31.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Walnut Acres Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 33.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (61.5% Math proficient); White students (83.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 18.1 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 54 students tested.
5 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.
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 6.7pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +3.1pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (14.6% vs 4.7%). 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.
$93 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), 65% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Walnut Acres Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Walnut Acres Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Walnut Acres Elementary rank in California?
Is Walnut Acres Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Walnut Acres Elementary?
How does Walnut Acres Elementary compare to other schools in Walnut Creek?
How does Walnut Acres Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 67
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 | 117 | 53% | 28% | 15% | 4% | 81% | +38 |
| Grade 4 | 95 | 60% | 24% | 12% | 4% | 84% | +39 |
| Grade 5 | 135 | 45% | 37% | 10% | 7% | 82% | +34 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 117 | 57% | 28% | 12% | 3% | 85% | +40 |
| Grade 4 | 95 | 45% | 41% | 13% | 1% | 86% | +45 |
| Grade 5 | 133 | 49% | 21% | 20% | 10% | 70% | +35 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 135 | 24% | 41% | 33% | 2% |
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 | 54 | 64.8% | +33 | +27 |
| White | 166 | 83.7% | +20 | +22 |
| Two or More Races | 80 | 78.8% | +19 | +17 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Acres Elementary ← | — | 69 | 51.6% | 81.6% | −7.3 | 0.8% |
| Valle Verde Elementary | 1.2 mi | 69 | 45.2% | 76.0% | +3.2 | 1.2% |
| Indian Valley Elementary | 1.3 mi | 68 | 37.1% | 65.2% | +7.3 | 0.6% |
| Walnut Heights Elementary | 1.9 mi | 65 | 42.0% | 71.1% | +11.8 | 0.6% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 66 | 87 | #733 | 43.9% | 73.8% | 4.0% | 0.3% | -13.9pp |
| 2022 | 59 | 87 | #755 | 47.9% | 74.2% | 9.5% | 0.0% | -11.7pp |
| 2023 | 60 | 85 | #869 | 45.9% | 76.3% | 11.7% | 0.2% | -15.4pp |
| 2024 | 64 | 87 | #762 | 46.7% | 78.0% | 7.8% | 0.5% | -8.1pp |
| 2025 | 69 | 91 | #517 | 51.6% | 81.6% | 6.8% | 0.8% | -7.3pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 3.9% | 5.6% | +1.7pp |
| Male | 3.8% | 6.6% | +2.8pp |
| Asian | 1.4% | 9.9% | +8.5pp |
| Filipino | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| White | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 14.3% | 15.2% | +0.9pp |
| Two or More Races | 4.4% | 1.7% | -2.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.9% | 8.8% | -1.1pp |
| English Learners | 12.5% | 24.4% | +11.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 19.0% | 18.3% | -0.7pp |
| All Students | 3.9% | 6.3% | +2.4pp |
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