Enrollment
369
Elementary
DISTRICT 319 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RAVENSWOOD CITY ELEMENTARY·NCES 063186004915
Costano Elementary
2695 Fordham St., East Palo Alto, CA 94303 · (650) 329-2830 · San Mateo County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL369 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% 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.
- DBeats 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
17.1:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.8:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
90%
332 students
DISTRICT 89% · STATE 65%
Community
0
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 | 77 | 21% |
| Grade 1 | 62 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 52 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 65 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 52 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 61 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (77) is 26% larger than its 5th grade class (61).
Student demographics
45%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 31% · 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
Costano Elementary→Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle
Based on grade levels within Ravenswood City Elementary. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
16.1%
CA avg 49.1% . -1.9pp since 2014
Math
11.6%
CA avg 37.7% . -0.4pp 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 12 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2014, while math scores have held steady.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 3.1% | 13.0% | 24.1% | 59.9% |
| Math | 1.7% | 9.9% | 23.8% | 64.5% |
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 | 16.1% | 11.6% |
| 2023-24 | 6.5% | 8.3% |
| 2022-23 | 11.1% | 3.6% |
| 2021-22 | 13.6% | 2.8% |
| 2018-19 | 22.2% | 16.0% |
| 2017-18 | 26.4% | 12.1% |
| 2016-17 | 18.4% | 7.1% |
| 2015-16 | 18.0% | 8.0% |
| 2014-15 | 18.0% | 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
10.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
26.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 11% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 27% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Costano Elementary
Costano Elementary's state test result (10.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costano Elementary this school | 369 | 90.0% | 10.6% |
| Bancroft Elementary Spring Valley | 391 | 93.1% | 18.3% |
| Julius Corsini Elementary Desert Hot Springs | 397 | 91.4% | 15.2% |
| Encanto Elementary San Diego | 386 | 93.5% | 26.4% |
| Kendall Elementary San Bernardino | 351 | 87.7% | 28.3% |
| Oehl Elementary Highland | 436 | 89.0% | 23.1% |
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 Costano Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Mateo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 10.6% | #5,090 of 5,151 | #94 of 96 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.6% | #4,966 of 5,172 ▲ 108 | #92 of 96 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 16.1% | #5,020 of 5,172 ▲ 144 | #92 of 96 ▲ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.7pp | #1,465 of 5,116 | #20 of 96 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 369 | #4,064 of 5,915 | #51 of 106 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.1:1 | #145 of 5,352 | #7 of 99 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 44.6% | #3,157 of 5,354 | #81 of 99 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 90.0% | #1,112 of 5,625 | #7 of 103 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.2% | #2,260 of 3,837 | #48 of 79 |
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
369
-106 (-22%) vs 2020
-33% since 1990-91, when it was 550
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
was 19.8:1
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 | 369 | 21.5 | 17.1:1 | 90% (332) |
| 2023-24 | 318 | 18.1 | 17.6:1 | 85% (270) |
| 2022-23 | 348 | 19 | 18.3:1 | 82% (284) |
| 2020-21 | 475 | 24 | 19.8:1 | 90% (429) |
| 2017-18 | 425 | 22 | 19.3:1 | 91% (387) |
| 2015-16 | 558 | 24 | 23.3:1 | 91% (508) |
| 2010-11 | 504 | N/A | N/A | 93% (467) |
| 2000-01 | 547 | 28 | 19.5:1 | 70% (382) |
| 1990-91 | 550 | 19 | 28.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Costano Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (425 to 369); teachers down 2% (22 to 21.5).
About Costano Elementary
Costano Elementary is a small elementary school in East Palo Alto, California, under Ravenswood City Elementary. Classes run from kindergarten through 5, and the school has 369 students. Against the 465-student average for elementary schools in California, enrollment here is 21% lower.
Across its 4 schools, Ravenswood City Elementary enrolls 1,445 students. Costano Elementary is one of those schools.
Roughly 73% of students at Costano Elementary are Hispanic. Other groups include 12% Pacific Islander, 7% Black, 4% multiracial, and 2% White. By comparison, San Mateo County residents are about 25% Hispanic. Costano Elementary's diversity index is 45%, against a US figure of 70%.
Federal data list 21.5 full-time-equivalent teachers at Costano Elementary in 2024-25, for a ratio of 17.1:1. That is 5.2 students per teacher below the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 90%. For comparison, public schools in San Mateo County average 34%.
Measured against California public elementary schools, Costano Elementary receives a D. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Costano Elementary is a bottom-10% school in California on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 10.6% against a predicted 26.8%.
Within San Mateo County, the median household income is $158,855, 54% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Besides Costano Elementary, San Mateo County has 175 other public schools.
Nearby, Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle is about 0.5 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Costano Elementary at 1st of 4.
Federal data place Costano Elementary in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment has fallen by 106 students since 2020-21, to 369. The number of students per teacher fell from 19.8 to 17.1 over 4 years.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Costano Elementary. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
San Mateo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
742,340
Census ACS
Median income
$158,855
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
54%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
176
82,403 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ravenswood City Elementary
- Cesar Chavez Ravenswood MiddleMiddle · 488 students
- Belle Haven ElementaryElementary · 312 students
- Los Robles-Ronald McNair AcademyElementary · 276 students
Other schools in East Palo Alto
- Aspire East Palo Alto CharterElementary · 496 students
- Cesar Chavez Ravenswood MiddleMiddle · 488 students
- East Palo Alto AcademyHigh · 278 students
- Los Robles-Ronald McNair AcademyElementary · 276 students
- KIPP Esperanza HighHigh · 194 students
- Oxford Day AcademyHigh · 108 students
Nearby schools
- Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle0.5 mi · 488
- KIPP Esperanza High0.8 mi · 194
- Aspire East Palo Alto Charter0.9 mi · 496
- Oxford Day Academy0.9 mi · 108
- East Palo Alto Academy1.1 mi · 278
- Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy1.2 mi · 276
Frequently asked questions
About Costano ElementaryHow many students attend Costano Elementary?
Costano Elementary enrolls approximately 369 students in grades KG-05.
Is Costano Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Costano Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Costano Elementary have?
Costano Elementary employs 22 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.1:1.
How diverse is Costano Elementary?
Costano Elementary reports a student body of 2% White, 73% Hispanic, 7% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Is Costano Elementary public or private?
Costano Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Ravenswood City Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.