1
Enrollment
419
Elementary
DISTRICT 459 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH BAY UNION·NCES 063738006324
Howard Pence Elementary
877 Via Tonga Ct., San Diego, CA 92154 · (619) 662-8100 · San Diego County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL419 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of California public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- BThree-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
24.6:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
72%
301 students
DISTRICT 70% · STATE 65%
Community
6
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 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 54 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 53 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 50 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 6 | 70 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (64) is 9% smaller than its 6th grade class (70).
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 25% · 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
24.2%
CA avg 49.1% . +0.2pp since 2014
Math
14.1%
CA avg 37.7% . -3.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 24 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 14 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 9.6% | 14.6% | 27.5% | 48.3% |
| Math | 4.6% | 9.5% | 24.1% | 61.8% |
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 | 24.2% | 14.1% |
| 2023-24 | 24.1% | 13.6% |
| 2022-23 | 18.1% | 9.7% |
| 2021-22 | 20.9% | 11.3% |
| 2020-21 | 17.2% | 10.7% |
| 2018-19 | 33.7% | 30.8% |
| 2017-18 | 34.5% | 24.3% |
| 2016-17 | 37.3% | 30.2% |
| 2015-16 | 34.0% | 21.0% |
| 2014-15 | 24.0% | 18.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
18.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.5%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 37% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Howard Pence Elementary
Howard Pence Elementary's state test result (18.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Pence Elementary this school | 419 | 71.8% | 18.4% |
| Loma Verde Elementary Chula Vista | 419 | 72.3% | 36.1% |
| Lakeview Elementary Santa Fe Springs | 457 | 72.2% | 50.0% |
| Luther Burbank Elementary San Jose | 426 | 69.7% | 32.1% |
| Ida Jew Academies San Jose | 435 | 69.2% | 27.4% |
| Jordan Academy of Language and Computer Science Orange | 430 | 74.7% | 44.0% |
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 Howard Pence Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.4% | #4,695 of 5,151 | #372 of 392 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.1% | #4,823 of 5,172 ▼ 35 | #377 of 393 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 24.2% | #4,560 of 5,172 ▼ 166 | #363 of 393 ▼ 11 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +3.1pp | #2,256 of 5,116 | #154 of 387 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 419 | #3,443 of 5,915 | #267 of 453 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 24.6:1 | #4,201 of 5,352 | #318 of 418 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 17.9% | #4,531 of 5,354 | #379 of 418 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.8% | #2,847 of 5,625 | #158 of 442 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -39.8% | #153 of 3,837 | #5 of 279 |
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
419
-113 (-21%) vs 2020
-50% since 1990-91, when it was 841
Student : Teacher
24.6:1
was 23.1:1
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 | 419 | 17 | 24.6:1 | 72% (301) |
| 2023-24 | 462 | 18 | 25.7:1 | 65% (301) |
| 2022-23 | 495 | 20 | 24.8:1 | 74% (368) |
| 2020-21 | 532 | 23 | 23.1:1 | 60% (320) |
| 2017-18 | 696 | 28 | 24.9:1 | 82% (570) |
| 2015-16 | 701 | 27 | 26.0:1 | 76% (533) |
| 2010-11 | 642 | N/A | N/A | 79% (505) |
| 2000-01 | 878 | 40 | 21.9:1 | 45% (398) |
| 1990-91 | 841 | 31 | 27.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Howard Pence Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 40% (696 to 419); teachers down 39% (28 to 17).
About Howard Pence Elementary
Howard Pence Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in South Bay Union, located in San Diego, California. Federal data show 419 students enrolled in kindergarten through 6 in 2024-25.
The district, South Bay Union, operates 12 schools serving 5,513 students.
A large majority of enrollment at Howard Pence Elementary is Hispanic, at 90%. The school is also 4% Asian, 3% White, and 2% multiracial. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 35%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Howard Pence Elementary scores 18%.
There are about 24.6 students for every full-time-equivalent teacher at Howard Pence Elementary, which has 17. Elementary schools in California have an average ratio of 22.3:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch stands at 72%. Public schools in San Diego County average 54%.
Howard Pence Elementary holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 7% of California public elementary schools.
Howard Pence Elementary is in the bottom 10% of California schools on the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure. Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 37.5%. The school's actual rate is 18.4%, 19.0 points lower.
For San Diego County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $106,268, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. There are 766 public schools in the county, enrolling about 467,437, Howard Pence Elementary among them.
Among nearby public schools, Montgomery Middle is closest at about 0.4 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Howard Pence Elementary. Among the 8 closest schools with test data, this one included, Howard Pence Elementary ranks 8th on average proficiency.
Locale: City: Large. In NCES terms, the school is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school's enrollment decreased 21% from 2020-21 to 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio increased from 23.1:1 to 24.6:1.
The discussion board for Howard Pence Elementary is open to topics like special education services, counseling, and support programs. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
San Diego County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,288,774
Census ACS
Median income
$106,268
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
766
467,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in South Bay Union
- Nestor Language Academy CharterElementary · 1,079 students
- Imperial Beach CharterElementary · 724 students
- George Nicoloff ElementaryElementary · 616 students
- Teofilo MendozaElementary · 468 students
- Oneonta ElementaryElementary · 434 students
- Emory ElementaryElementary · 399 students
Other schools in San Diego
- Del Norte HighHigh · 2,557 students
- Torrey Pines HighHigh · 2,536 students
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Rancho Bernardo HighHigh · 2,210 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Canyon Crest AcademyHigh · 2,147 students
Nearby schools
- Montgomery Middle0.4 mi · 734
- Options Secondary0.5 mi · 69
- Montgomery Senior High0.5 mi · 1,568
- Silver Wing Elementary0.5 mi · 335
- Los Altos Elementary0.8 mi · 263
- Finney (Myrtle S.) Elementary0.9 mi · 396
Frequently asked questions
About Howard Pence ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Howard Pence Elementary?
Howard Pence Elementary enrolls approximately 419 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Howard Pence Elementary serve?
Howard Pence Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Howard Pence Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Howard Pence Elementary is approximately 24.6:1 (17 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Howard Pence Elementary?
Howard Pence Elementary reports a student body of 3% White, 90% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is Howard Pence Elementary in?
Howard Pence Elementary is part of South Bay Union.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.