John Malcom Elementary

John Malcom Elementary operates as a mid-sized K-5 school in Laguna Niguel, California, run under Capistrano Unified. Current enrollment sits at 553 students spanning grades K through 5.

John Malcom Elementary is one of 58 schools operated by Capistrano Unified, a district that enrolls 40,251 students overall.

On the student-mix side, John Malcom Elementary shows that White students make up the majority at 65%. Other groups include 19% multiracial, 13% Hispanic, 3% Asian. That is meaningfully more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 43%.

On the income-and-resources front, John Malcom Elementary shows 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 24.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting John Malcom Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 25% of students at John Malcom Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Orange County runs at roughly 55%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), John Malcom Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 64.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 64.4%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Orange County indicate the typical household earns roughly $116,289 per year, roughly 44% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. John Malcom Elementary is one of 649 public schools in Orange County (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students).

Dana Hills High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around John Malcom Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts John Malcom Elementary at 2nd of 7; the average score across the group is 47.2%.

John Malcom Elementary operates from a suburban location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 10%: 614 students in 2018 compared to 553 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 74% to 65% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 30.6:1 in 2018 to 24.1:1 today.

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