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What's the most underrated thing about Desert Garden Elementary that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
358
Elementary
DISTRICT 412 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EL CENTRO ELEMENTARY·NCES 061203001333
Desert Garden Elementary
1900 South Sixth St., El Centro, CA 92243 · (760) 352-2051 · Imperial County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL358 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.4:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 22.8:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
82%
293 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 65%
Community
1
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 | 62 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 26 | 7% |
| Grade 2 | 44 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 51 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 54 | 15% |
| Grade 6 | 73 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (62) is 15% smaller than its 6th grade class (73).
Student demographics
4%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 8% · 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
40.8%
CA avg 49.1% . +8.8pp since 2014
Math
32.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +8.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 9 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 13.9% | 26.9% | 25.6% | 33.6% |
| Math | 12.6% | 19.7% | 31.8% | 35.9% |
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 | 40.8% | 32.3% |
| 2023-24 | 42.7% | 25.7% |
| 2022-23 | 39.7% | 28.3% |
| 2021-22 | 35.6% | 25.0% |
| 2018-19 | 46.0% | 33.9% |
| 2017-18 | 43.0% | 26.1% |
| 2016-17 | 42.2% | 31.3% |
| 2015-16 | 35.0% | 25.0% |
| 2014-15 | 32.0% | 24.0% |
% 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
34.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.6%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Desert Garden Elementary
Desert Garden Elementary's state test result (34.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Garden Elementary this school | 358 | 81.8% | 34.8% |
| Magee Academy of Arts & Sciences Pico Rivera | 376 | 82.2% | 42.2% |
| Voices College-Bound Language Acad at W. Contra Costa Co Richmond | 343 | 81.0% | N/A |
| Birney Tech Academy Pico Rivera | 344 | 80.8% | 39.1% |
| Rio Vista Elementary Pico Rivera | 370 | 83.5% | 42.5% |
| Kimball National City | 322 | 82.0% | 31.6% |
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 Desert Garden Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Imperial County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.8% | #2,979 of 5,151 | #13 of 35 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.3% | #2,989 of 5,172 ▲ 556 | #11 of 35 ▲ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.8% | #2,845 of 5,172 ▼ 393 | #13 of 35 ▼ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.3pp | #1,286 of 5,116 | #12 of 35 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 358 | #4,200 of 5,915 | #26 of 38 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.4:1 | #2,499 of 5,352 | #19 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 4.4% | #5,228 of 5,354 | #24 of 34 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 81.8% | #1,992 of 5,625 | #19 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.8% | #2,455 of 3,837 | #15 of 23 |
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
358
-77 (-18%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 484
Student : Teacher
22.4:1
was 25.6:1
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 | 358 | 16 | 22.4:1 | 82% (293) |
| 2023-24 | 371 | 17 | 21.8:1 | 81% (302) |
| 2022-23 | 412 | 17 | 24.2:1 | 81% (332) |
| 2020-21 | 435 | 17 | 25.6:1 | 89% (385) |
| 2017-18 | 406 | 13.5 | 30.1:1 | 84% (340) |
| 2015-16 | 361 | 13 | 27.8:1 | 84% (304) |
| 2010-11 | 434 | N/A | N/A | 80% (349) |
| 2000-01 | 543 | 21 | 25.9:1 | 72% (391) |
| 1990-91 | 484 | 18 | 26.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Desert Garden Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (406 to 358); teachers up 19% (13.5 to 16).
About Desert Garden Elementary
Families in El Centro, California, are served by Desert Garden Elementary, a small elementary school. The school offers kindergarten through 6 and enrolls 358 students. That puts enrollment 23% below the 465-student average for elementary schools in California.
El Centro Elementary runs Desert Garden Elementary along with 11 other schools, enrolling 5,157 students in total.
A large majority of enrollment at Desert Garden Elementary is Hispanic, at 97%. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 86%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Desert Garden Elementary scores 4%.
With 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 22.4:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in California is similar, at 22.3:1. Roughly 82% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Schools in California with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 31.6%. Desert Garden Elementary scores 34.8%.
For Imperial County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $57,681, about 16% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 17% of residents are in poverty. There are 76 public schools in the county, enrolling about 36,513, Desert Garden Elementary among them.
Phoenix Rising High is the nearest public school to Desert Garden Elementary, about 0.5 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. In a group of 5 nearby schools with scores, Desert Garden Elementary ranks 3rd on average proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Desert Garden Elementary as City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 358, compared with 435 in 2020-21. Federal data show the ratio falling from 25.6:1 to 22.4:1.
Anyone can start a thread about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Desert Garden Elementary. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Imperial County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
180,202
Census ACS
Median income
$57,681
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
16%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
76
36,513 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in El Centro Elementary
- Wilson Jr. HighMiddle · 605 students
- Harding ElementaryElementary · 601 students
- De Anza MagnetElementary · 504 students
- McKinley ElementaryElementary · 456 students
- Margaret Hedrick ElementaryElementary · 446 students
- Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryElementary · 445 students
Other schools in El Centro
- Central Union HighHigh · 2,006 students
- Southwest HighHigh · 1,846 students
- McCabe ElementaryElementary · 1,109 students
- Wilson Jr. HighMiddle · 605 students
- Harding ElementaryElementary · 601 students
- De Anza MagnetElementary · 504 students
Other Desert Garden Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Desert Garden Elementary. Desert Garden Elementary is the largest of the 2.
- Desert Garden Elementary SchoolGLENDALE, AZ · 205 students
Nearby schools
- Phoenix Rising High0.5 mi · 20
- Desert Oasis High (Continuation)0.5 mi · 138
- Harding Elementary0.6 mi · 601
- Wilson Jr. High0.9 mi · 605
- Mt. Signal Virtual Academy0.9 mi · 60
- Central Union High0.9 mi · 2,006
Frequently asked questions
About Desert Garden ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Desert Garden Elementary?
Desert Garden Elementary enrolls approximately 358 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Desert Garden Elementary serve?
Desert Garden Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Desert Garden Elementary?
Approximately 22.4:1 students per teacher at Desert Garden Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Desert Garden Elementary?
At Desert Garden Elementary, the student body is approximately 0% White, 97% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Desert Garden Elementary public or private?
Desert Garden Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by El Centro Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.