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Alumni: what's one memory from Calabasas Elementary that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
512
Elementary
DISTRICT 434 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PAJARO VALLEY UNIFIED·NCES 062949004539
Calabasas Elementary
202 Calabasas Rd., Watsonville, CA 95076 · (831) 728-6368 · Santa Cruz County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL512 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 8% of California public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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
22.1:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.4:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
97%
497 students
DISTRICT 81% · 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 | 88 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 64 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 64 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 81 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 65 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 17% |
| Grade 6 | 64 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 38% larger than its 6th grade class (64).
Student demographics
11%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
Calabasas Elementary→Aptos Junior High
Based on grade levels within Pajaro Valley Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
15.6%
CA avg 49.1% . +1.6pp since 2014
Math
14.1%
CA avg 37.7% . +2.1pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 16 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 14 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 2 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 2 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 2.9% | 12.7% | 31.5% | 52.9% |
| Math | 3.6% | 10.5% | 22.5% | 63.4% |
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 | 15.6% | 14.1% |
| 2023-24 | 14.0% | 12.2% |
| 2022-23 | 11.9% | 12.3% |
| 2021-22 | 16.6% | 11.1% |
| 2018-19 | 22.3% | 18.4% |
| 2017-18 | 18.7% | 15.7% |
| 2016-17 | 16.2% | 13.1% |
| 2015-16 | 16.0% | 15.0% |
| 2014-15 | 14.0% | 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
14.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
22.7%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 14% 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 Calabasas Elementary
Calabasas Elementary's state test result (14.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calabasas Elementary this school | 512 | 97.1% | 14.2% |
| La Granada Elementary Riverside | 524 | 96.0% | 21.1% |
| Pixley Elementary Pixley | 530 | 96.4% | 28.1% |
| Robert Heideman Elementary Tustin | 502 | 97.0% | 26.4% |
| Evergreen Avenue Elementary Los Angeles | 492 | 95.3% | 30.3% |
| West Putnam Elementary Porterville | 478 | 96.4% | 24.5% |
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 Calabasas Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Cruz County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.2% | #4,977 of 5,151 | #31 of 36 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.1% | #4,821 of 5,172 ▲ 79 | #30 of 36 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 15.6% | #5,033 of 5,172 ▲ 26 | #29 of 36 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.0pp | #3,022 of 5,116 | #18 of 36 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 512 | #2,283 of 5,915 | #5 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.1:1 | #2,257 of 5,352 | #17 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 11.2% | #4,882 of 5,354 | #26 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 97.1% | #197 of 5,625 | #1 of 37 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.9% | #1,325 of 3,837 | #13 of 30 |
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
512
-63 (-11%) vs 2020
-13% since 1990-91, when it was 588
Student : Teacher
22.1:1
was 23.0:1
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 | 512 | 23.2 | 22.1:1 | 97% (497) |
| 2023-24 | 497 | 22.7 | 21.9:1 | 95% (470) |
| 2022-23 | 515 | 25.1 | 20.6:1 | 95% (489) |
| 2020-21 | 575 | 25 | 23.0:1 | 91% (525) |
| 2017-18 | 647 | 28 | 23.1:1 | 83% (534) |
| 2015-16 | 608 | 24 | 25.3:1 | 93% (563) |
| 2010-11 | 641 | N/A | N/A | 93% (595) |
| 2000-01 | 780 | 41 | 19.0:1 | 70% (548) |
| 1990-91 | 588 | 23 | 25.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Calabasas Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (647 to 512); teachers down 17% (28 to 23.2).
About Calabasas Elementary
In Watsonville, California, Calabasas Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school. The school covers kindergarten through 6 and reported 512 students in 2024-25.
Calabasas Elementary is part of a district of 33 schools: Pajaro Valley Unified, with 16,482 students.
By race and ethnicity, Calabasas Elementary is 94% Hispanic. The next largest groups are 4% White. The school's Hispanic share is 59 points above the 35% share among Santa Cruz County residents. A diversity index of 11% means there is an 11% chance two randomly chosen students at Calabasas Elementary are from different groups.
Staffing at Calabasas Elementary comes to 23.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 22.1:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in California is similar, at 22.3:1. Calabasas Elementary counts 97% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is higher than the 52% average for public schools in Santa Cruz County.
On the allk12 Grade, Calabasas Elementary lands at D, ahead of 8% of California public elementary schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 22.7% for Calabasas Elementary. The school posts 14.2%, 8.5 points below the prediction.
Census data for Santa Cruz County show median household income comes to about $111,093, about 44% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. The county has 83 public schools and about 36,316 students.
Freedom Elementary sits about 1.1 miles from Calabasas Elementary. Calabasas Elementary has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Among 8 nearby schools that report test results, Calabasas Elementary ranks 6th on proficiency.
For locale, NCES codes Calabasas Elementary as Suburb: Small.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment fell from 575 to 512, an 11% decline.
On allk12, people connected to Calabasas Elementary can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Santa Cruz County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
264,926
Census ACS
Median income
$111,093
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
44%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
36,316 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Pajaro Valley Unified
- Watsonville HighHigh · 2,215 students
- Pajaro Valley HighHigh · 1,293 students
- Aptos HighHigh · 1,274 students
- Alianza CharterElementary · 626 students
- Rolling Hills MiddleMiddle · 588 students
- Aptos Junior HighMiddle · 587 students
Other schools in Watsonville
- Watsonville HighHigh · 2,215 students
- Pajaro Valley HighHigh · 1,293 students
- Alianza CharterElementary · 626 students
- Rolling Hills MiddleMiddle · 588 students
- Cesar E. Chavez MiddleMiddle · 548 students
- Bradley ElementaryElementary · 520 students
Nearby schools
- Freedom Elementary1.1 mi · 479
- Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter1.2 mi · 207
- Amesti Elementary1.3 mi · 431
- Pacific Coast Charter1.4 mi · 132
- Rolling Hills Middle1.4 mi · 588
- Diamond Technology Institute1.8 mi · 87
Frequently asked questions
About Calabasas ElementaryHow large is Calabasas Elementary?
Calabasas Elementary enrolls approximately 512 students in grades KG-06.
Is Calabasas Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Calabasas Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many students per teacher at Calabasas Elementary?
Approximately 22.1:1 students per teacher at Calabasas Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Calabasas Elementary?
Student demographics at Calabasas Elementary are roughly 4% White, 94% Hispanic, 1% Two or more.
What district is Calabasas Elementary in?
Calabasas Elementary is part of Pajaro Valley Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.