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Which teacher or staff member at Garfield Elementary deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
428
Elementary
DISTRICT 530 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SANTA ANA UNIFIED·NCES 063531009634
Garfield Elementary
850 East Brown St., Santa Ana, CA 92701 · (714) 972-5300 · Orange County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL428 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.5:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.3:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
93%
397 students
DISTRICT 91% · STATE 65%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CAASPP 2023-24 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
29.3%
CA avg 47.1% . +17.3pp since 2014
Math
23.4%
CA avg 35.6% . +8.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 23 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 47 and 36. Reading and writing scores are up about 17 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
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
26.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
428
-342 (-44%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
22.5:1
was 28.5:1
% White
0%
was 1%
% Hispanic
97%
was 99%
% Asian
1%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Garfield Elementary
Garfield Elementary is one of the moderately sized K-5 schools in Santa Ana, California, run under Santa Ana Unified, with 428 students on its rolls from grades K through 5.
Garfield Elementary is one of 51 schools operated by Santa Ana Unified, a district that educates 35,993 students overall.
In terms of who attends, Garfield Elementary reports that nearly all students (97%) are Hispanic. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 34%.
On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 22.5:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 93% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is higher than Orange County's rate of about 55%.
Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Garfield Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 24.2%, the actual is 26.4%, a residual of +2.2 points.
Zooming out to the county, census data for Orange County shows the typical household earns roughly $116,289 per year, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. In all, Orange County runs 649 public schools (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students), of which Garfield Elementary is one.
Nearest neighbor: Edward B. Cole Academy, around 0.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Garfield Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Garfield Elementary at 2nd of 4; the average score across the group is 27.2%.
Garfield Elementary operates from a downtown location.
Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Garfield Elementary has fell 44%, going from 770 students in 2018 to 428 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 28.5:1 in 2018 to 22.5:1 in 2025.
On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.
Orange County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,165,820
Census ACS
Median income
$116,289
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
44%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
649
430,458 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Santa Ana Unified
- Santa Ana HighHigh · 2,505 students
- Segerstrom HighHigh · 2,376 students
- Valley HighHigh · 1,908 students
- Hector G. GodinezHigh · 1,687 students
- Century HighHigh · 1,519 students
- Saddleback HighHigh · 1,451 students
Other schools in Santa Ana
- Santa Ana HighHigh · 2,505 students
- Segerstrom HighHigh · 2,376 students
- OCSAHigh · 2,346 students
- Foothill HighHigh · 2,126 students
- Valley HighHigh · 1,908 students
- Hector G. GodinezHigh · 1,687 students
Nearby schools
- Edward B. Cole Academy0.4 mi · 431
- Roosevelt Walker Academy0.5 mi · 675
- REACH Academy0.5 mi · 36
- OCSA0.6 mi · 2,346
- Orange County Educational Arts Academy0.6 mi · 643
- Wallace R. Davis Elementary0.6 mi · 413
Frequently asked questions
About Garfield ElementaryHow many students attend Garfield Elementary?
Garfield Elementary enrolls approximately 428 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Garfield Elementary serve?
Garfield Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many teachers does Garfield Elementary have?
Garfield Elementary employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Garfield Elementary?
Student demographics at Garfield Elementary are roughly 0% White, 97% Hispanic, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Garfield Elementary?
Garfield Elementary is overseen by Santa Ana Unified in Orange County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.