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Alumni: what's one memory from Merritt Trace Elementary that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
829
Elementary
DISTRICT 412 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAN JOSE UNIFIED·NCES 063459005741
Merritt Trace Elementary
651 Dana Ave., San Jose, CA 95126 · (408) 535-6257 · Santa Clara County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL829 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 20% of California public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
22.2:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
450 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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 | 194 | 23% |
| Grade 1 | 117 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 118 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 116 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 134 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 150 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (194) is 29% larger than its 5th grade class (150).
Student demographics
46%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
36.9%
CA avg 49.1% . -3.1pp since 2014
Math
27.9%
CA avg 37.7% . +0.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 28 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 | 17.0% | 19.9% | 20.1% | 43.0% |
| Math | 14.8% | 13.0% | 24.8% | 47.3% |
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 | 36.9% | 27.9% |
| 2023-24 | 34.7% | 29.6% |
| 2022-23 | 38.0% | 26.9% |
| 2021-22 | 37.9% | 23.6% |
| 2020-21 | 35.4% | 21.5% |
| 2018-19 | 47.1% | 29.3% |
| 2017-18 | 41.6% | 32.0% |
| 2016-17 | 40.3% | 30.4% |
| 2015-16 | 38.0% | 33.0% |
| 2014-15 | 40.0% | 27.0% |
% 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
32.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.7%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 32% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 48% 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 Merritt Trace Elementary
Merritt Trace Elementary's state test result (32.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merritt Trace Elementary this school | 829 | 54.3% | 32.4% |
| Melrose Leadership Academy Oakland | 722 | 54.6% | 44.9% |
| Ronald Reagan Elementary Palm Desert | 808 | 59.0% | 44.6% |
| Camino Real Elementary Jurupa Valley | 721 | 55.1% | 33.7% |
| Rancho Santana Hollister | 678 | 53.5% | 26.9% |
| Ladd Lane Elementary Hollister | 767 | 53.6% | 28.6% |
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 Merritt Trace Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Clara County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 32.4% | #3,231 of 5,151 | #176 of 226 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 27.9% | #3,433 of 5,172 ▼ 308 | #181 of 226 ▼ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.9% | #3,237 of 5,172 ▲ 23 | #164 of 226 ▲ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.6pp | #2,812 of 5,116 | #75 of 225 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 829 | #310 of 5,915 | #4 of 255 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.2:1 | #2,322 of 5,352 | #137 of 247 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 45.5% | #3,105 of 5,354 | #160 of 247 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.3% | #3,731 of 5,625 | #86 of 252 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.2% | #2,793 of 3,837 | #158 of 189 |
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
829
-18 (-2%) vs 2020
+88% since 1990-91, when it was 441
Student : Teacher
22.2:1
was 25.7:1
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 | 829 | 37.4 | 22.2:1 | 54% (450) |
| 2023-24 | 836 | 39.3 | 21.3:1 | 53% (442) |
| 2022-23 | 831 | 36.6 | 22.7:1 | 54% (452) |
| 2020-21 | 847 | 33 | 25.7:1 | 47% (399) |
| 2017-18 | 913 | 33.1 | 27.6:1 | 58% (532) |
| 2015-16 | 966 | 34 | 28.4:1 | 56% (545) |
| 2010-11 | 985 | N/A | N/A | 52% (509) |
| 2000-01 | 470 | 22 | 21.4:1 | 47% (221) |
| 1990-91 | 441 | 25 | 17.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Merritt Trace Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (913 to 829); teachers up 13% (33.1 to 37.4).
About Merritt Trace Elementary
Merritt Trace Elementary is a high-enrollment elementary school with its address in San Jose, California. Students in kindergarten through 5 attend the school, which enrolls 829 students. For comparison, elementary schools in California average about 465 students.
Merritt Trace Elementary is run by San Jose Unified, whose 41 schools enroll 24,322 students.
By race and ethnicity, Merritt Trace Elementary is 72% Hispanic. The rest of enrollment is 15% White, 6% multiracial, and 5% Asian. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Santa Clara County's population at about 25%. The chance that two students picked at random at Merritt Trace Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 46%.
Teacher staffing is 37.4 full-time equivalents, or about 22.2 students per teacher. Elementary schools in California average about 22.3:1, a similar figure. About 54% of students, or 450, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Compared with the 37% average for public schools in Santa Clara County, the school's rate is higher.
Measured against California public elementary schools, Merritt Trace Elementary receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
A school in California with Merritt Trace Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 47.7%. Merritt Trace Elementary scores 32.4%.
Federal survey data for Santa Clara County show that median household income is about $164,281, about 57% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 4%. A total of 412 public schools operate in Santa Clara County, serving about 230,059 students.
Abraham Lincoln High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles away. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Merritt Trace Elementary's average proficiency of 32.4% compares with 40.1% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The NCES locale for Merritt Trace Elementary is City: Large, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
In 2020-21, Merritt Trace Elementary enrolled 847; in 2024-25, 829. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (22.2:1) than in 2020-21 (25.7:1).
Conversations here can range across sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Santa Clara County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,902,047
Census ACS
Median income
$164,281
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
412
230,059 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in San Jose Unified
- Abraham Lincoln HighHigh · 1,590 students
- Willow Glen HighHigh · 1,543 students
- Leland HighHigh · 1,471 students
- Pioneer HighHigh · 1,393 students
- Willow Glen MiddleMiddle · 1,180 students
- Herbert Hoover MiddleMiddle · 910 students
Other schools in San Jose
- Evergreen Valley HighHigh · 2,703 students
- Independence HighHigh · 2,289 students
- Silver Creek HighHigh · 2,139 students
- Santa Teresa HighHigh · 2,134 students
- Piedmont Hills HighHigh · 1,918 students
- Leigh HighHigh · 1,884 students
Nearby schools
- Abraham Lincoln High0.2 mi · 1,590
- Herbert Hoover Middle0.2 mi · 910
- Luther Burbank Elementary0.5 mi · 426
- Washington Open Elementary1.2 mi · 352
- Buchser Middle1.3 mi · 711
- Sherman Oaks Elementary1.4 mi · 524
Frequently asked questions
About Merritt Trace ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Merritt Trace Elementary?
Merritt Trace Elementary enrolls approximately 829 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Merritt Trace Elementary serve?
Merritt Trace Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Merritt Trace Elementary?
Approximately 22.2:1 students per teacher at Merritt Trace Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Merritt Trace Elementary?
Student demographics at Merritt Trace Elementary are roughly 15% White, 72% Hispanic, 2% Black, 5% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Merritt Trace Elementary public or private?
Merritt Trace Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by San Jose Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.