Enrollment
379
Elementary
DISTRICT 387 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY·NCES 063492005907
Highlands Elementary
2320 Newport St., San Mateo, CA 94402 · (650) 312-7544 · San Mateo County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL379 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 55% 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.
- CBeats 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
20.8:1
18 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
27%
104 students
DISTRICT 39% · 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 | 88 | 23% |
| Grade 1 | 60 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 59 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 52 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 47 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 73 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 21% larger than its 5th grade class (73).
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
60.1%
CA avg 49.1% . -2.9pp since 2014
Math
63.1%
CA avg 37.7% . -0.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 63 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 | 37.5% | 22.6% | 12.5% | 27.4% |
| Math | 34.5% | 28.6% | 19.6% | 17.3% |
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 | 60.1% | 63.1% |
| 2023-24 | 57.7% | 54.0% |
| 2022-23 | 58.6% | 61.4% |
| 2021-22 | 59.8% | 60.6% |
| 2020-21 | 60.0% | 50.9% |
| 2018-19 | 67.3% | 60.1% |
| 2017-18 | 69.7% | 59.4% |
| 2016-17 | 70.5% | 67.7% |
| 2015-16 | 70.0% | 61.0% |
| 2014-15 | 63.0% | 64.0% |
% 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
58.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
63.5%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 63% 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 Highlands Elementary
Highlands Elementary's state test result (58.2% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands Elementary this school | 379 | 27.4% | 58.2% |
| George Hall Elementary San Mateo | 370 | 31.4% | 67.1% |
| Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary Mountain View | 368 | 23.4% | 60.7% |
| Farnham Charter San Jose | 372 | 24.2% | 55.9% |
| Edith Landels Elementary Mountain View | 399 | 21.1% | 69.7% |
| George C. Payne Elementary San Jose | 417 | 31.4% | 57.7% |
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 Highlands Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Mateo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.2% | #1,212 of 5,151 | #49 of 96 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 63.1% | #920 of 5,172 ▲ 366 | #42 of 96 ▲ 9 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.1% | #1,316 of 5,172 ▲ 67 | #48 of 96 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.4pp | #2,883 of 5,116 | #42 of 96 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 379 | #3,943 of 5,915 | #45 of 106 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.8:1 | #1,390 of 5,352 | #36 of 99 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 75.2% | #105 of 5,354 | #3 of 99 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 27.4% | #4,866 of 5,625 | #55 of 103 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -31.6% | #452 of 3,837 | #11 of 79 |
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
379
-109 (-22%) vs 2020
-2% since 1990-91, when it was 386
Student : Teacher
20.8:1
was 24.4:1
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 | 379 | 18.2 | 20.8:1 | 27% (104) |
| 2023-24 | 355 | 16.8 | 21.1:1 | 26% (92) |
| 2022-23 | 385 | 18 | 21.4:1 | 19% (74) |
| 2020-21 | 488 | 20 | 24.4:1 | 18% (88) |
| 2017-18 | 554 | 22 | 25.2:1 | 19% (105) |
| 2015-16 | 594 | 24 | 24.8:1 | 18% (108) |
| 2010-11 | 549 | N/A | N/A | 20% (108) |
| 2000-01 | 444 | 22 | 20.2:1 | 14% (62) |
| 1990-91 | 386 | 15 | 25.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highlands Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 32% (554 to 379); teachers down 17% (22 to 18.2).
About Highlands Elementary
Highlands Elementary is a low-enrollment elementary school with an address in San Mateo, California. Its 379 students are spread across kindergarten through 5.
San Mateo-Foster City serves 9,906 students across 22 schools.
Highlands Elementary has no majority group; Hispanic students are the largest, at 29%. Other reported shares: 27% Asian, 25% White, and 18% multiracial. The Hispanic share in San Mateo County as a whole is similar, at about 25%. The school's diversity index is 75%, meaning two students picked at random have a 75% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Federal staffing data show 18.2 full-time-equivalent teachers at Highlands Elementary and a ratio of 20.8:1. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 27% of enrollment.
The allk12 Grade for Highlands Elementary is B. Compared with California public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 55% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Highlands Elementary is 5.2 points below the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 58.2% actual, 63.5% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in California.
Within San Mateo County, the median household income is $158,855, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 54%, and about 4% of people live in poverty. Besides Highlands Elementary, San Mateo County has 175 other public schools.
Nearby, Hillcrest at Youth Services Center is about 1.0 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Nearby schools average 66.0% on proficiency, and Highlands Elementary is below that at 58.2%.
Highlands Elementary falls in the Suburb: Large locale category, used for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over 4 years, Highlands Elementary's enrollment declined 22%, to 379. The number of students per teacher fell from 24.4 to 20.8 over 4 years.
Conversations here can range across school safety, transportation, and start times. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
San Mateo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
742,340
Census ACS
Median income
$158,855
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
54%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
176
82,403 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in San Mateo-Foster City
- Bowditch MiddleMiddle · 929 students
- Borel MiddleMiddle · 903 students
- Bayside AcademyElementary · 840 students
- Abbott MiddleMiddle · 721 students
- Foster City ElementaryElementary · 624 students
- Baywood ElementaryElementary · 489 students
Other schools in San Mateo
- Aragon HighHigh · 1,658 students
- Hillsdale HighHigh · 1,585 students
- San Mateo HighHigh · 1,557 students
- Borel MiddleMiddle · 903 students
- Bayside AcademyElementary · 840 students
- Abbott MiddleMiddle · 721 students
Other Highlands Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 13 states are named Highlands Elementary. Highlands Elementary is the 18th largest of the 25.
- Highlands ElementarySaugus, CA · 666 students
- Highlands ElementaryConcord, CA · 512 students
- Highlands ElementaryPittsburg, CA · 480 students
- Highlands ElementarySpring Valley, CA · 357 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolHIGHLANDS, TX · 868 students
Nearby schools
- Hillcrest at Youth Services Center1.0 mi · 16
- Gateway Center1.2 mi · 11
- Fox Elementary1.8 mi · 420
- West Hillsborough2.0 mi · 275
- Aragon High2.1 mi · 1,658
- Meadow Heights Elementary2.1 mi · 238
Frequently asked questions
About Highlands ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Highlands Elementary?
Highlands Elementary enrolls approximately 379 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Highlands Elementary serve?
Highlands Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Highlands Elementary?
Approximately 20.8:1 students per teacher at Highlands Elementary.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Highlands Elementary?
At Highlands Elementary, the student body is approximately 25% White, 29% Hispanic, 0% Black, 27% Asian, 18% Two or more.
What district is Highlands Elementary in?
Highlands Elementary is part of San Mateo-Foster City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.