Enrollment
317
Elementary
DISTRICT 619 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BAKERSFIELD CITY·NCES 060363007101
Downtown Elementary
2021 M St., Bakersfield, CA 93301 · (661) 631-5920 · Kern County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL317 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 56% of California public elementary schools
- A-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.
- CThree-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
21.6:1
15 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
31%
99 students
DISTRICT 88% · 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 | 42 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 36 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 38 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 37 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 34 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 30 | 9% |
| Grade 6 | 36 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 34 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 30 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (42) is 40% larger than its 8th grade class (30).
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 30% · 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
69.4%
CA avg 49.1% . +12.4pp since 2014
Math
51.5%
CA avg 37.7% . +1.5pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 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 12 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 | 35.7% | 33.7% | 16.3% | 14.3% |
| Math | 24.0% | 27.6% | 30.1% | 18.4% |
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 | 69.4% | 51.5% |
| 2023-24 | 62.3% | 53.4% |
| 2022-23 | 74.3% | 54.5% |
| 2021-22 | 71.7% | 52.6% |
| 2018-19 | 79.8% | 67.4% |
| 2017-18 | 80.6% | 62.3% |
| 2016-17 | 78.3% | 63.0% |
| 2015-16 | 78.0% | 62.0% |
| 2014-15 | 57.0% | 50.0% |
% 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
58.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 59% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% 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 Downtown Elementary
Downtown Elementary's state test result (58.7% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Elementary this school | 317 | 31.2% | 58.7% |
| Winter Gardens Elementary Lakeside | 269 | 30.1% | N/A |
| Acacia Magnet School for Enriched Learning Thousand Oaks | 352 | 36.6% | 50.6% |
| Highland Academy Beaumont | 331 | 38.1% | N/A |
| Sumac Elementary Agoura | 360 | 35.8% | 65.2% |
| Knightsen Elementary Knightsen | 316 | 38.0% | 36.9% |
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 Downtown Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Kern County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.7% | #1,189 of 5,151 | #4 of 148 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.5% | #1,484 of 5,172 ▼ 168 | #7 of 150 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.4% | #772 of 5,172 ▲ 338 | #3 of 150 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.7pp | #1,293 of 5,116 | #31 of 147 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 317 | #4,610 of 5,915 | #132 of 163 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.6:1 | #1,915 of 5,352 | #76 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.3% | #2,211 of 5,354 | #41 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 31.2% | #4,707 of 5,625 | #150 of 153 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +3.3% | #864 of 1,139 | #33 of 42 |
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
317
+6 (+2%) vs 2020
+30% since 2000-01, when it was 243
Student : Teacher
21.6:1
was 22.2:1
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 | 317 | 14.7 | 21.6:1 | 31% (99) |
| 2023-24 | 319 | 14.2 | 22.5:1 | 44% (140) |
| 2022-23 | 323 | 14.7 | 22.0:1 | 31% (101) |
| 2020-21 | 311 | 14 | 22.2:1 | 41% (126) |
| 2017-18 | 307 | 14.5 | 21.2:1 | 24% (73) |
| 2015-16 | 308 | 14 | 22.0:1 | 17% (52) |
| 2010-11 | 297 | N/A | N/A | 22% (65) |
| 2000-01 | 243 | 12 | 20.3:1 | 26% (63) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Downtown Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (307 to 317); teachers up 1% (14.5 to 14.7).
About Downtown Elementary
Downtown Elementary is classified as an elementary school. It is located in Bakersfield, California. Grades offered run from kindergarten through 8, with 317 students enrolled. For comparison, elementary schools in California average about 465 students.
Downtown Elementary is run by Bakersfield City, whose 44 schools enroll 28,365 students.
Downtown Elementary is 56% Hispanic by enrollment. Beyond that, enrollment is 34% White, 3% Asian, 3% Black, and 3% multiracial. The Hispanic share in Kern County as a whole is similar, at about 57%. Pick two students at random and there is a 56% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school employs the equivalent of 14.7 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 21.6:1. That matches the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California fairly closely. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at Downtown Elementary is 31%. The rate at public schools in Kern County averages 76%, higher than here.
allk12 grades Downtown Elementary a B. The grade compares the school only with California public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
Downtown Elementary posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 58.7%, compared with a predicted 61.2%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of California schools on BeatsExpectations.
Census estimates describe Kern County this way: the median household income is $70,210, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 19%, and about 15% of people live in poverty. Besides Downtown Elementary, Kern County has 278 other public schools.
The shortest distance from Downtown Elementary to another public school is about 0.2 miles, to Kern County Community. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Among 4 nearby schools that report test results, Downtown Elementary ranks 1st on proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Downtown Elementary as City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment went from 311 in 2020-21 to 317 in 2024-25, a change of 6 students.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Downtown Elementary. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Kern County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
915,075
Census ACS
Median income
$70,210
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
279
197,431 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bakersfield City
- Curran MiddleMiddle · 973 students
- Colonel Howard Nichols ElementaryElementary · 960 students
- Voorhies ElementaryElementary · 915 students
- Walter Stiern MiddleMiddle · 891 students
- Horace Mann ElementaryElementary · 870 students
- Bessie E. Owens ElementaryElementary · 867 students
Other schools in Bakersfield
- Bakersfield HighHigh · 3,069 students
- Ridgeview HighHigh · 2,575 students
- Highland HighHigh · 2,530 students
- Stockdale HighHigh · 2,398 students
- Liberty HighHigh · 2,369 students
- East Bakersfield HighHigh · 2,331 students
Other Downtown Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Downtown Elementary. Downtown Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Downtown ElementaryMemphis, TN · 784 students
Nearby schools
- Kern County Community0.2 mi · 325
- Kern County Special Education0.2 mi · 387
- Kern County Juvenile Court0.2 mi · 191
- Central Academy of Arts and Technology0.4 mi · 179
- Bakersfield High0.7 mi · 3,069
- Rafer Johnson0.8 mi · 32
Frequently asked questions
About Downtown ElementaryHow many students attend Downtown Elementary?
Downtown Elementary enrolls approximately 317 students in grades KG-08.
What grades does Downtown Elementary serve?
Downtown Elementary serves grades KG-08.
How many students per teacher at Downtown Elementary?
Approximately 21.6:1 students per teacher at Downtown Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Downtown Elementary?
At Downtown Elementary, the student body is approximately 34% White, 56% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Downtown Elementary in?
Downtown Elementary is part of Bakersfield City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.