1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Edward M. Downer Elementary right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
388
Elementary
DISTRICT 397 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST CONTRA COSTA UNIFIED·NCES 063255009184
Edward M. Downer Elementary
1231 18th St., San Pablo, CA 94806 · (510) 234-3851 · Contra Costa County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL388 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% 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
21.8:1
18 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 22.0:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
96%
373 students
DISTRICT 66% · 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 | 47 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 49 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 51 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 71 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 52 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 56 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 62 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (47) is 24% smaller than its 6th grade class (62).
Student demographics
21%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
13.9%
CA avg 49.1% . -3.1pp since 2014
Math
15.7%
CA avg 37.7% . +0.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 14 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 16 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 3 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 | 4.2% | 9.7% | 15.6% | 70.6% |
| Math | 3.2% | 12.5% | 19.4% | 64.9% |
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 | 13.9% | 15.7% |
| 2023-24 | 17.4% | 12.4% |
| 2022-23 | 14.8% | 10.3% |
| 2021-22 | 12.5% | 15.7% |
| 2018-19 | 23.8% | 16.0% |
| 2017-18 | 19.6% | 14.6% |
| 2016-17 | 23.6% | 16.5% |
| 2015-16 | 21.0% | 17.0% |
| 2014-15 | 17.0% | 15.0% |
% 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
14.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.8pp
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 Edward M. Downer Elementary
Edward M. Downer Elementary's state test result (14.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward M. Downer Elementary this school | 388 | 96.1% | 14.4% |
| Gardena Elementary Gardena | 398 | 95.2% | 30.2% |
| Edison Elementary San Diego | 375 | 96.3% | 53.1% |
| Perkins K-8 San Diego | 381 | 95.5% | 17.8% |
| Madison Elementary Pomona | 382 | 97.4% | 31.4% |
| Juanita Blakely Jones Elementary San Bernardino | 394 | 98.2% | 18.2% |
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 Edward M. Downer Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Contra Costa County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.4% | #4,967 of 5,151 | #130 of 149 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.7% | #4,678 of 5,172 ▲ 203 | #119 of 153 ▲ 17 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 13.9% | #5,076 of 5,172 ▼ 165 | #139 of 153 ▼ 6 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.7pp | #3,140 of 5,116 | #76 of 150 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 388 | #3,835 of 5,915 | #121 of 164 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.8:1 | #2,048 of 5,352 | #62 of 162 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 20.9% | #4,373 of 5,354 | #157 of 162 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 96.1% | #304 of 5,625 | #2 of 158 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -38.0% | #199 of 3,837 | #3 of 107 |
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
388
-108 (-22%) vs 2020
-61% since 1990-91, when it was 994
Student : Teacher
21.8:1
was 24.8:1
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 | 388 | 17.8 | 21.8:1 | 96% (373) |
| 2023-24 | 405 | 17.8 | 22.8:1 | 69% (278) |
| 2022-23 | 425 | 17.8 | 23.9:1 | 79% (336) |
| 2020-21 | 496 | 20 | 24.8:1 | 91% (449) |
| 2017-18 | 626 | 24.5 | 25.6:1 | 91% (569) |
| 2015-16 | 607 | 26 | 23.4:1 | 95% (578) |
| 2010-11 | 763 | N/A | N/A | 80% (607) |
| 2000-01 | 968 | 49 | 19.8:1 | 94% (912) |
| 1990-91 | 994 | 39 | 25.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Edward M. Downer Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 38% (626 to 388); teachers down 27% (24.5 to 17.8).
About Edward M. Downer Elementary
Among the schools in San Pablo, California, is Edward M. Downer Elementary, a small elementary school. The school has 388 students in 2024-25 across kindergarten through 6.
Edward M. Downer Elementary is one school in West Contra Costa Unified, a system of 52 schools with 25,133 students.
The share of students at Edward M. Downer Elementary who are Hispanic is 89%. Other groups include 6% Black and 3% Asian. By comparison, Contra Costa County residents are about 28% Hispanic. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 21, compared with 70 nationally.
With 17.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 21.8:1. The average for elementary schools in California is about 22.3:1. Student poverty is often measured by lunch eligibility; at Edward M. Downer Elementary, 96% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in Contra Costa County average 45%.
On the allk12 Grade, Edward M. Downer Elementary lands at D, ahead of 7% of California public elementary schools.
Schools in California with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 23.2%. Edward M. Downer Elementary scores 14.4%.
In the surrounding county, Contra Costa County, the median household earns about $127,229 a year, 45% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Counting Edward M. Downer Elementary, Contra Costa County has 280 public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Richmond High, is about 0.4 miles. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 10.8%; Edward M. Downer Elementary's is 14.4%, ranking 2nd of 9.
Federal records code the school's setting as Suburb: Large.
The school's enrollment fell 22% from 2020-21 to 2024-25. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (21.8:1) than in 2020-21 (24.8:1).
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Contra Costa County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,165,012
Census ACS
Median income
$127,229
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
45%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
280
167,423 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in West Contra Costa Unified
- El Cerrito HighHigh · 1,460 students
- Richmond HighHigh · 1,280 students
- Pinole Valley HighHigh · 1,245 students
- De Anza HighHigh · 1,047 students
- Hercules HighHigh · 767 students
- John F. Kennedy HighHigh · 740 students
Other schools in San Pablo
- Caliber: Beta AcademyElementary · 971 students
- Helms MiddleMiddle · 558 students
- Montalvin Manor ElementaryElementary · 474 students
- Dover ElementaryElementary · 458 students
- Vista Independent Study / Virtual AcademyCombined · 420 students
- Lake ElementaryElementary · 350 students
Nearby schools
- Richmond High0.4 mi · 1,280
- Cesar E. Chavez Elementary0.4 mi · 408
- Dover Elementary0.4 mi · 458
- Ford Elementary0.6 mi · 371
- Verde Elementary0.8 mi · 341
- Grant Elementary0.8 mi · 551
Frequently asked questions
About Edward M. Downer ElementaryHow many students attend Edward M. Downer Elementary?
Edward M. Downer Elementary enrolls approximately 388 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Edward M. Downer Elementary serve?
Edward M. Downer Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Edward M. Downer Elementary?
Approximately 21.8:1 students per teacher at Edward M. Downer Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Edward M. Downer Elementary?
At Edward M. Downer Elementary, the student body is approximately 1% White, 89% Hispanic, 6% Black, 3% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Edward M. Downer Elementary?
Edward M. Downer Elementary is overseen by West Contra Costa Unified in Contra Costa County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.