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What's the most underrated thing about Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
423
Elementary
DISTRICT 404 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LOS ANGELES UNIFIED·NCES 062271012677
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary
6900 Calhoun Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91405 · (818) 908-6700 · Los Angeles County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL423 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 29% of California public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C-Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded California public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
22.9:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.0:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
97%
410 students
DISTRICT 84% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 100 | 24% |
| Grade 1 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 58 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 68 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 72 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (100) is 39% larger than its 5th grade class (72).
Student demographics
21%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 45% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
28.6%
CA avg 49.1% . +13.6pp since 2014
Math
17.9%
CA avg 37.7% . +5.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 18 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are up about 14 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 6 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 11.3% | 17.3% | 26.5% | 44.9% |
| Math | 5.1% | 12.8% | 27.2% | 54.9% |
Share of tested students at each CAASPP level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
CAASPP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 28.6% | 17.9% |
| 2023-24 | 33.7% | 23.7% |
| 2022-23 | 27.1% | 20.9% |
| 2021-22 | 26.8% | 25.4% |
| 2018-19 | 31.3% | 19.5% |
| 2017-18 | 20.4% | 12.6% |
| 2016-17 | 19.9% | 11.9% |
| 2015-16 | 18.0% | 9.0% |
| 2014-15 | 15.0% | 12.0% |
% met or exceeded standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CAASPP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
26.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
22.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 23% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among California's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary's state test result (26.1% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary this school | 423 | 96.9% | 26.1% |
| Cesar E. Chavez Elementary Richmond | 408 | 97.8% | 7.6% |
| Canoga Park Elementary Canoga Park | 462 | 96.3% | 19.6% |
| Napa Street Elementary Northridge | 402 | 94.8% | 30.3% |
| Cohasset Street Elementary Lake Balboa | 451 | 95.1% | 28.7% |
| Van Nuys Elementary Van Nuys | 459 | 96.9% | 32.0% |
Matched among California elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Los Angeles County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 26.1% | #3,961 of 5,151 | #978 of 1,126 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.9% | #4,488 of 5,172 ▼ 709 | #1,072 of 1,129 ▼ 136 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.6% | #4,112 of 5,172 ▼ 732 | #987 of 1,129 ▼ 175 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -2.8pp | #1,008 of 5,116 | #161 of 1,116 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 423 | #3,382 of 5,915 | #702 of 1,300 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.9:1 | #2,874 of 5,352 | #729 of 1,213 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 21.5% | #4,345 of 5,354 | #845 of 1,214 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 96.9% | #213 of 5,625 | #115 of 1,276 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.0% | #2,691 of 3,837 | #742 of 947 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
423
-40 (-9%) vs 2020
-12% since 2010-11, when it was 480
Student : Teacher
22.9:1
was 24.4:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 423 | 18.5 | 22.9:1 | 97% (410) |
| 2023-24 | 397 | 19 | 20.9:1 | 96% (382) |
| 2022-23 | 429 | 19.5 | 22.0:1 | 96% (413) |
| 2020-21 | 463 | 19 | 24.4:1 | 95% (440) |
| 2017-18 | 470 | 19.5 | 24.1:1 | 93% (438) |
| 2015-16 | 524 | 21 | 24.9:1 | 90% (469) |
| 2010-11 | 480 | N/A | N/A | 89% (425) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (470 to 423); teachers down 5% (19.5 to 18.5).
About Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is an elementary school in Van Nuys, California, and it is part of Los Angeles Unified. It educates 423 students in kindergarten through 5.
The district, Los Angeles Unified, operates 784 schools serving 406,887 students.
The student body at Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is 88% Hispanic. Other groups make up 4% White, 4% Asian, and 3% multiracial. County-wide, 48% of Los Angeles County residents are Hispanic. Pick two students at random and there is a 21% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Federal data list 18.5 full-time-equivalent teachers at Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary in 2024-25, for a ratio of 22.9:1. That matches the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California fairly closely. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 97%. On average, public schools in Los Angeles County report 70%.
Measured against California public elementary schools, Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is +3.3 points: 26.1% actual, 22.8% predicted.
Los Angeles County has about 9,808,667 residents, and the median household income is $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Besides Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary, Los Angeles County has 2,243 other public schools.
The next-closest public school is CHAMPS - Charter HS of Arts-Multimedia & Performing, about 0.3 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On proficiency, Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is behind the 35.9% nearby average, ranking 5th of 5.
Federal data place Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary in the City: Large locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment has fallen by 40 students since 2020-21, to 423. By 2024-25, the school had 22.9 students per teacher, compared with 24.4 in 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Los Angeles County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
9,808,667
Census ACS
Median income
$90,112
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
2,244
1,265,907 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Los Angeles Unified
- Grover Cleveland Charter HighHigh · 2,719 students
- North Hollywood Senior HighHigh · 2,444 students
- Phineas Banning Senior HighHigh · 2,422 students
- San Pedro Senior HighHigh · 2,398 students
- Venice Senior HighHigh · 2,293 students
- James A. Garfield Senior HighHigh · 2,237 students
Other schools in Van Nuys
- Van Nuys Senior HighHigh · 1,969 students
- Ulysses S. Grant Senior HighHigh · 1,774 students
- Robert Fulton College PreparatoryHigh · 1,229 students
- Kester Avenue ElementaryElementary · 886 students
- Kittridge Street ElementaryElementary · 768 students
- Van Nuys MiddleMiddle · 726 students
Nearby schools
- CHAMPS - Charter HS of Arts-Multimedia & Performing0.3 mi · 424
- Hazeltine Avenue Elementary0.3 mi · 621
- Ararat Charter0.5 mi · 333
- Van Nuys Elementary0.6 mi · 459
- Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles0.6 mi · 161
- Valley Charter Middle0.7 mi · 264
Frequently asked questions
About Andres and Maria Cardenas ElementaryHow many students attend Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary?
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary enrolls approximately 423 students in grades KG-05.
Is Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary have?
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.9:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary?
At Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary, the student body is approximately 4% White, 88% Hispanic, 2% Black, 4% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary in?
Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary is part of Los Angeles Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.