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What's the one class at Joe Nightingale Elementary every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
695
Elementary
DISTRICT 453 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ORCUTT UNION ELEMENTARY·NCES 062871004464
Joe Nightingale Elementary
255 Winter Rd., Santa Maria, CA 93455 · (805) 938-8650 · Santa Barbara County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL695 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 88% of California public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+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
26.7:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 25.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
465 students
DISTRICT 67% · 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 | 114 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 103 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 94 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 104 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 96 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 106 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (114) is 8% larger than its 6th grade class (106).
Student demographics
53%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
59.5%
CA avg 49.1% . +4.5pp since 2014
Math
52.0%
CA avg 37.7% . +9.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 59 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 4 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 9 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 33.7% | 25.8% | 18.2% | 22.3% |
| Math | 30.6% | 21.5% | 26.5% | 21.5% |
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 | 59.5% | 52.0% |
| 2023-24 | 56.7% | 54.4% |
| 2022-23 | 58.6% | 54.3% |
| 2021-22 | 57.8% | 44.9% |
| 2018-19 | 57.4% | 52.6% |
| 2017-18 | 55.5% | 50.1% |
| 2016-17 | 57.8% | 52.7% |
| 2015-16 | 61.0% | 47.0% |
| 2014-15 | 55.0% | 43.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
55.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.3%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+15.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 56% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 40% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 15 points, placing it in California's top 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 Joe Nightingale Elementary
Joe Nightingale Elementary's state test result (55.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Nightingale Elementary this school | 695 | 66.9% | 55.7% |
| Amelia Earhart Elementary School of International Studies Indio | 748 | 65.1% | 38.8% |
| Breeze Hill Elementary Vista | 742 | 65.0% | 46.5% |
| Peggy Heller Elementary Atwater | 712 | 63.8% | 41.5% |
| Live Oak Elementary Fallbrook | 717 | 68.6% | 50.5% |
| Miguelito Elementary Lompoc | 634 | 69.9% | 30.5% |
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 Joe Nightingale Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Barbara County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 55.7% | #1,363 of 5,151 | #14 of 66 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 52.0% | #1,459 of 5,172 ▼ 192 | #14 of 66 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.5% | #1,366 of 5,172 ▲ 80 | #14 of 66 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.4pp | #1,849 of 5,116 | #14 of 66 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 695 | #787 of 5,915 | #18 of 75 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 26.7:1 | #5,056 of 5,352 | #62 of 63 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 53.0% | #2,517 of 5,354 | #26 of 63 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.9% | #3,126 of 5,625 | #36 of 70 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.2% | #3,175 of 3,837 | #38 of 47 |
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
695
-13 (-2%) vs 2020
+50% since 1990-91, when it was 464
Student : Teacher
26.7:1
was 25.3:1
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 | 695 | 26 | 26.7:1 | 67% (465) |
| 2023-24 | 684 | 25 | 27.4:1 | 53% (362) |
| 2022-23 | 720 | 26 | 27.7:1 | 45% (323) |
| 2020-21 | 708 | 28 | 25.3:1 | 43% (301) |
| 2017-18 | 741 | 29 | 25.6:1 | 43% (322) |
| 2015-16 | 761 | 28 | 27.2:1 | 46% (350) |
| 2010-11 | 719 | N/A | N/A | 47% (341) |
| 2000-01 | 803 | 38 | 21.1:1 | 40% (319) |
| 1990-91 | 464 | 20 | 23.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Joe Nightingale Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (741 to 695); teachers down 10% (29 to 26).
About Joe Nightingale Elementary
Joe Nightingale Elementary is an elementary school in Santa Maria, California, according to federal school records. The school enrolls 695 students, from kindergarten through 6. Average enrollment for elementary schools in California is about 465, so this school runs 49% above that.
Orcutt Union Elementary is responsible for 10 schools, Joe Nightingale Elementary included, with 4,911 students in all.
Joe Nightingale Elementary's enrollment is 64% Hispanic. Other groups make up 21% White, 10% multiracial, and 3% Asian. County-wide, 48% of Santa Barbara County residents are Hispanic. By the diversity index, Joe Nightingale Elementary comes in at 53%.
Federal data list 26 full-time-equivalent teachers at Joe Nightingale Elementary in 2024-25, for a ratio of 26.7:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in California is 22.3:1, lower than at this school. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 67%. That is close to the 68% average for public schools in Santa Barbara County.
allk12 grades Joe Nightingale Elementary an A. The grade compares the school only with California public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Joe Nightingale Elementary is +15.4 points, in the top 10% of California. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 55.7%, and the predicted rate is 40.3%.
Census estimates describe Santa Barbara County this way: median household income is about $98,161, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 37%, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. The public schools of Santa Barbara County number 129 and enroll about 66,191.
The nearest public school is Lakeview Junior High, at about 0.5 miles. Joe Nightingale Elementary has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Joe Nightingale Elementary comes in 1st of 8 nearby schools on average proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Mid-size: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Federal data show 708 students in 2020-21 and 695 in 2024-25, a difference of under 3%. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 25.3:1; by 2024-25 it was 26.7:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss science fairs, picture day, and bus routes at Joe Nightingale Elementary. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Santa Barbara County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
443,701
Census ACS
Median income
$98,161
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
129
66,191 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Orcutt Union Elementary
- Orcutt Academy CharterCombined · 812 students
- Patterson Road ElementaryElementary · 662 students
- Pine Grove ElementaryElementary · 569 students
- Alice Shaw ElementaryElementary · 530 students
- Ralph Dunlap ElementaryElementary · 502 students
- Orcutt Junior HighMiddle · 464 students
Other schools in Santa Maria
- Santa Maria HighHigh · 3,143 students
- Pioneer Valley HighHigh · 3,080 students
- Ernest Righetti HighHigh · 2,416 students
- JIMENEZ ROBERTO AND DR. FRANCISCO ELEMENTARYElementary · 1,177 students
- Bruce (Robert) ElementaryElementary · 1,050 students
- Alvin ElementaryElementary · 998 students
Nearby schools
- Lakeview Junior High0.5 mi · 463
- Alice Shaw Elementary0.8 mi · 530
- Ernest Righetti High1.3 mi · 2,416
- JIMENEZ ROBERTO AND DR. FRANCISCO ELEMENTARY2.0 mi · 1,177
- Bill Libbon Elementary2.1 mi · 834
- Patterson Road Elementary2.1 mi · 662
Frequently asked questions
About Joe Nightingale ElementaryHow large is Joe Nightingale Elementary?
Joe Nightingale Elementary enrolls approximately 695 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Joe Nightingale Elementary serve?
Joe Nightingale Elementary serves grades KG-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Joe Nightingale Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Joe Nightingale Elementary is approximately 26.7:1 (26 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Joe Nightingale Elementary?
Joe Nightingale Elementary reports a student body of 21% White, 64% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Joe Nightingale Elementary?
Joe Nightingale Elementary is overseen by Orcutt Union Elementary in Santa Barbara County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.