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What tradition at Dana Elementary should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
612
Elementary
DISTRICT 435 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LUCIA MAR UNIFIED·NCES 062308003518
Dana Elementary
920 West Tefft St., Nipomo, CA 93444 · (805) 474-3790 · San Luis Obispo County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL612 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 35% 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.
- 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
19.9:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.0:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
77%
472 students
DISTRICT 61% · 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 | 133 | 22% |
| Grade 1 | 81 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 91 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 77 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 70 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 94 | 15% |
| Grade 6 | 66 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (133) is 102% larger than its 6th grade class (66).
Student demographics
46%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
34.1%
CA avg 49.1% . +2.1pp since 2014
Math
29.6%
CA avg 37.7% . +3.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 34 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 13.3% | 20.9% | 27.8% | 38.1% |
| Math | 10.6% | 18.9% | 27.9% | 42.5% |
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 | 34.1% | 29.6% |
| 2023-24 | 37.2% | 30.8% |
| 2022-23 | 32.2% | 28.4% |
| 2021-22 | 34.5% | 26.0% |
| 2018-19 | 49.1% | 37.2% |
| 2017-18 | 49.4% | 35.1% |
| 2016-17 | 39.5% | 28.6% |
| 2015-16 | 41.0% | 31.0% |
| 2014-15 | 32.0% | 26.0% |
% 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
32.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.4%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 34% 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 Dana Elementary
Dana Elementary's state test result (32.8% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dana Elementary this school | 612 | 77.1% | 32.8% |
| Rocky Hill Elementary Exeter | 554 | 78.0% | 44.9% |
| Alice Shaw Elementary Santa Maria | 530 | 76.4% | 33.2% |
| Rose Avenue Elementary Modesto | 561 | 74.9% | 28.6% |
| Mesa Verde Elementary Oakdale | 529 | 81.7% | 18.1% |
| Valley Elementary Yucaipa | 518 | 81.3% | 30.6% |
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 Dana Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Luis Obispo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 32.8% | #3,192 of 5,151 | #30 of 37 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 29.6% | #3,268 of 5,172 ▼ 273 | #30 of 37 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.1% | #3,539 of 5,172 ▼ 538 | #33 of 37 ▼ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.6pp | #2,800 of 5,116 | #25 of 37 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 612 | #1,295 of 5,915 | #3 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.9:1 | #889 of 5,352 | #8 of 37 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 46.2% | #3,055 of 5,354 | #32 of 37 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 77.1% | #2,448 of 5,625 | #8 of 40 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.2% | #948 of 1,139 | #15 of 17 |
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
612
+88 (+17%) vs 2020
-7% since 1990-91, when it was 655
Student : Teacher
19.9:1
was 20.1:1
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 | 612 | 30.7 | 19.9:1 | 77% (472) |
| 2023-24 | 601 | 31.2 | 19.2:1 | 77% (461) |
| 2022-23 | 600 | 26.3 | 22.9:1 | 76% (453) |
| 2020-21 | 524 | 26 | 20.1:1 | 81% (425) |
| 2017-18 | 599 | 25.5 | 23.5:1 | 67% (399) |
| 2015-16 | 584 | 25 | 23.4:1 | 67% (393) |
| 2010-11 | 603 | N/A | N/A | 65% (389) |
| 2000-01 | 677 | 33 | 20.5:1 | 60% (403) |
| 1990-91 | 655 | 26 | 25.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dana Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (599 to 612); teachers up 21% (25.5 to 30.7).
About Dana Elementary
Dana Elementary is a public elementary school run by Lucia Mar Unified in Nipomo, California. The school offers kindergarten through 6 and enrolls 612 students. That puts enrollment 32% larger than the 465-student average for elementary schools in California.
Federal data list 19 schools in Lucia Mar Unified, with 9,590 students enrolled.
More than half of the students at Dana Elementary are Hispanic (68%). The rest of enrollment is 26% White and 4% multiracial. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of San Luis Obispo County's population at about 25%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Dana Elementary scores 46%.
Its ratio of 19.9:1 is based on 30.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. Elementary schools in California average 22.3:1, 2.4 more students per teacher than here. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 77%. The rate at public schools in San Luis Obispo County averages 54%, lower than here.
Among California public elementary schools, Dana Elementary outscored 35%, which works out to a C+ on the allk12 Grade.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Dana Elementary is 34.4%, and its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 32.8%.
San Luis Obispo County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $97,446 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 40% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. Public schools in San Luis Obispo County number 83, with about 33,339 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Lange (Dorothea) Elementary, is about 1.3 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Dana Elementary places 5th of 9 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Town: Fringe: in a town close to an urbanized area.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 17% rise, from 524 to 612.
People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
San Luis Obispo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
281,555
Census ACS
Median income
$97,446
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
33,339 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lucia Mar Unified
- Arroyo Grande HighHigh · 2,012 students
- Nipomo HighHigh · 819 students
- Harloe ElementaryElementary · 619 students
- Lange (Dorothea) ElementaryElementary · 577 students
- Ocean View ElementaryElementary · 547 students
- Paulding MiddleMiddle · 544 students
Other schools in Nipomo
- Nipomo HighHigh · 819 students
- Lange (Dorothea) ElementaryElementary · 577 students
- Nipomo ElementaryElementary · 436 students
- Central Coast New Tech HighHigh · 318 students
Other Dana Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Dana Elementary. Dana Elementary is the largest of the 2.
- Dana ElementaryHendersonville, NC · 403 students
Nearby schools
- Lange (Dorothea) Elementary1.3 mi · 577
- Nipomo High1.5 mi · 819
- Central Coast New Tech High1.6 mi · 318
- Nipomo Elementary1.8 mi · 436
- Kunst (Tommie) Junior High4.1 mi · 912
- Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary4.6 mi · 869
Frequently asked questions
About Dana ElementaryHow large is Dana Elementary?
Dana Elementary enrolls approximately 612 students in grades KG-06.
Is Dana Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Dana Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many students per teacher at Dana Elementary?
Approximately 19.9:1 students per teacher at Dana Elementary.
How diverse is Dana Elementary?
Dana Elementary reports a student body of 26% White, 68% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Dana Elementary?
Dana Elementary is overseen by Lucia Mar Unified in San Luis Obispo County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.