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Alumni: what's one memory from Bernhard Marks Elementary that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
478
Elementary
DISTRICT 529 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DOS PALOS ORO LOMA JOINT UNIFIED·NCES 060003304680
Bernhard Marks Elementary
1717 Valeria St., Dos Palos, CA 93620 · (209) 392-0250 · Merced County
GRADES 03–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL478 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 20% 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.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+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
25.2:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
418 students
DISTRICT 89% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 166 | 35% |
| Grade 4 | 133 | 28% |
| Grade 5 | 179 | 37% |
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 27% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Bernhard Marks Elementary→Bryant Middle
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
25.9%
CA avg 49.1% . +9.9pp since 2014
Math
22.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +12.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 22 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 10 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 12 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 8.2% | 17.7% | 22.8% | 51.3% |
| Math | 6.4% | 15.9% | 27.7% | 50.0% |
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 | 25.9% | 22.3% |
| 2023-24 | 22.0% | 19.0% |
| 2022-23 | 22.3% | 19.8% |
| 2021-22 | 23.9% | 14.1% |
| 2020-21 | 23.8% | 10.0% |
| 2018-19 | 24.6% | 19.7% |
| 2017-18 | 20.7% | 15.8% |
| 2016-17 | 20.4% | 15.4% |
| 2015-16 | 21.0% | 15.0% |
| 2014-15 | 16.0% | 10.0% |
% 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
22.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
28.3%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 28% 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 Bernhard Marks Elementary
Bernhard Marks Elementary's state test result (22.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernhard Marks Elementary this school | 478 | 87.4% | 22.4% |
| Clayton A. Record Jr. Elementary San Jacinto | 492 | 88.0% | 30.0% |
| El Vista Elementary Modesto | 447 | 86.6% | 30.5% |
| Hamilton Elementary Hanford | 418 | 86.8% | 35.2% |
| Cypress Elementary Tulare | 562 | 87.5% | 24.8% |
| Henry Eissler Elementary Bakersfield | 529 | 85.3% | 27.3% |
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 Bernhard Marks Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Merced County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.4% | #4,347 of 5,151 | #46 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 22.3% | #4,069 of 5,172 ▲ 210 | #42 of 54 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.9% | #4,390 of 5,172 ▲ 176 | #48 of 54 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.1pp | #1,611 of 5,116 | #25 of 53 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 478 | #2,696 of 5,915 | #36 of 60 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 25.2:1 | #4,502 of 5,352 | #41 of 53 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 29.7% | #3,960 of 5,354 | #28 of 53 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.4% | #1,404 of 5,625 | #22 of 57 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.2% | #2,656 of 3,837 | #18 of 35 |
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
478
-32 (-6%) vs 2020
-14% since 2000-01, when it was 556
Student : Teacher
25.2:1
was 24.3:1
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 | 478 | 19 | 25.2:1 | 87% (418) |
| 2023-24 | 479 | 20 | 23.9:1 | 90% (431) |
| 2022-23 | 504 | 20 | 25.2:1 | 91% (460) |
| 2020-21 | 510 | 21 | 24.3:1 | 93% (474) |
| 2017-18 | 532 | 20 | 26.6:1 | 89% (471) |
| 2015-16 | 508 | 21 | 24.2:1 | 94% (478) |
| 2010-11 | 527 | N/A | N/A | 85% (449) |
| 2000-01 | 556 | 26 | 21.4:1 | 75% (416) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bernhard Marks Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (532 to 478); teachers down 5% (20 to 19).
About Bernhard Marks Elementary
Bernhard Marks Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school that serves part of Dos Palos, California. The school runs grades 3 through 5 and enrolls 478 students.
Bernhard Marks Elementary sits within Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified, which has 5 schools and 2,254 students.
Roughly 83% of students at Bernhard Marks Elementary are Hispanic. Enrollment also includes 12% White and 3% Black. Among people living in Merced County, the Hispanic share is about 63%. The diversity index for Bernhard Marks Elementary is 30%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
With 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 25.2:1. Elementary schools in California average 22.3:1, 2.9 fewer students per teacher than here. Roughly 87% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among California public elementary schools, Bernhard Marks Elementary outscored 20%, which works out to a C- on the allk12 Grade.
Bernhard Marks Elementary scores 22.4% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 28.3%.
The school's county is Merced County. According to Census Bureau estimates, median household income comes to about $65,510, 15% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Merced County's 117 public schools enroll about 59,456 students and include Bernhard Marks Elementary.
Bernhard Marks Elementary is about 0.3 miles from Dos Palos Elementary, its nearest public school. Within five miles are 4 other public schools. Of 7 schools in the immediate area with test results, Bernhard Marks Elementary ranks 5th on average proficiency.
Federal records code the school's setting as Town: Distant.
A 6% decline took enrollment from 510 in 2020-21 to 478 in 2024-25.
The allk12 page for Bernhard Marks Elementary lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. You can also rate the school on this page.
Merced County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
290,201
Census ACS
Median income
$65,510
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
15%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
117
59,456 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified
- Dos Palos HighHigh · 639 students
- Dos Palos ElementaryElementary · 579 students
- Bryant MiddleMiddle · 487 students
- Westside HighHigh · 71 students
- Westside Community Day Middle HighHigh
- Dos Palos Carver CenterElementary
Other schools in Dos Palos
- Dos Palos HighHigh · 639 students
- Dos Palos ElementaryElementary · 579 students
- Bryant MiddleMiddle · 487 students
- Dos Palos Carver CenterElementary
Nearby schools
- Dos Palos Elementary0.3 mi · 579
- Dos Palos High0.4 mi · 639
- Bryant Middle1.0 mi · 487
- Westside High2.0 mi · 71
- Alview Elementary9.6 mi · 183
- Charleston Elementary11.1 mi · 374
Frequently asked questions
About Bernhard Marks ElementaryHow large is Bernhard Marks Elementary?
Bernhard Marks Elementary enrolls approximately 478 students in grades 03-05.
What age range does Bernhard Marks Elementary serve?
Bernhard Marks Elementary serves students from grade 03 through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bernhard Marks Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bernhard Marks Elementary is approximately 25.2:1 (19 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Bernhard Marks Elementary?
At Bernhard Marks Elementary, the student body is approximately 12% White, 83% Hispanic, 3% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Bernhard Marks Elementary public or private?
Bernhard Marks Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.