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Welcome to the Nell Dawson Elementary community. What's one thing that would make Nell Dawson Elementary even better?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
405
Elementary
DISTRICT 411 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·COALINGA-HURON UNIFIED·NCES 060912010208
Nell Dawson Elementary
1303 Sunset Ave., Coalinga, CA 93210 · (559) 935-7580 · Fresno County
GRADES 01–03ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL405 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 14% 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.
- 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
18.4:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
72%
290 students
DISTRICT 80% · 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 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 1 | 2 | 0% |
| Grade 2 | 202 | 50% |
| Grade 3 | 196 | 48% |
| Grade 4 | 2 | 0% |
| Grade 5 | 2 | 0% |
Student demographics
28%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 24% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Nell Dawson Elementary→Sunset Elementary
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Coalinga-Huron Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
26.0%
CA avg 49.1% . +0.0pp since 2014
Math
26.3%
CA avg 37.7% . -6.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 26 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 7 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 12.2% | 13.8% | 27.6% | 46.4% |
| Math | 7.7% | 18.6% | 27.3% | 46.4% |
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 | 26.0% | 26.3% |
| 2023-24 | 18.9% | 19.3% |
| 2022-23 | 24.5% | 20.1% |
| 2021-22 | 23.0% | 19.4% |
| 2018-19 | 29.4% | 29.1% |
| 2017-18 | 29.0% | 26.4% |
| 2016-17 | 19.8% | 21.1% |
| 2015-16 | 30.0% | 28.0% |
| 2014-15 | 26.0% | 33.0% |
% 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
22.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.6%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 38% 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 Nell Dawson Elementary
Nell Dawson Elementary's state test result (22.6% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nell Dawson Elementary this school | 405 | 71.6% | 22.6% |
| Henry F. Bishop Elementary Coalinga | 412 | 72.8% | N/A |
| Sunset Elementary Coalinga | 442 | 72.2% | 26.4% |
| Joe Serna Jr. Charter Acampo | 369 | 73.2% | 42.7% |
| Steele Lane Elementary Santa Rosa | 447 | 70.0% | 9.8% |
| Hannalei Elementary Vista | 480 | 73.5% | 24.6% |
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 Nell Dawson Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Fresno County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.6% | #4,323 of 5,151 | #158 of 185 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.3% | #3,623 of 5,172 ▲ 622 | #126 of 185 ▲ 33 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 26.0% | #4,385 of 5,172 ▲ 432 | #162 of 185 ▲ 12 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.0pp | #1,649 of 5,116 | #84 of 182 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 405 | #3,643 of 5,915 | #154 of 206 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.4:1 | #356 of 5,352 | #32 of 190 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 28.5% | #4,010 of 5,354 | #133 of 190 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.6% | #2,866 of 5,625 | #145 of 199 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.3% | #3,500 of 3,837 | #118 of 135 |
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
405
-13 (-3%) vs 2020
-10% since 2000-01, when it was 448
Student : Teacher
18.4:1
was 22.0:1
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 | 405 | 22.1 | 18.4:1 | 72% (290) |
| 2023-24 | 440 | 21.5 | 20.5:1 | 86% (379) |
| 2022-23 | 453 | 21.1 | 21.5:1 | 81% (367) |
| 2020-21 | 418 | 19 | 22.0:1 | 89% (372) |
| 2017-18 | 419 | 18 | 23.3:1 | 82% (343) |
| 2015-16 | 439 | 18 | 24.4:1 | 79% (345) |
| 2010-11 | 521 | N/A | N/A | 77% (402) |
| 2000-01 | 448 | 24 | 18.7:1 | 64% (285) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nell Dawson Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (419 to 405); teachers up 23% (18 to 22.1).
About Nell Dawson Elementary
Located in Coalinga, California, Nell Dawson Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school. There are 405 students enrolled, covering grades 1 through 3.
Coalinga-Huron Unified runs Nell Dawson Elementary along with 10 other schools, enrolling 4,406 students in total.
Roughly 84% of students at Nell Dawson Elementary are Hispanic. Smaller groups are 12% White and 2% multiracial. County-wide, 55% of Fresno County residents are Hispanic. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 28%.
With 22.1 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 18.4:1. Statewide, elementary schools in California average 22.3:1. Roughly 72% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Nell Dawson Elementary earns a D on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 14% of California public elementary schools.
Nell Dawson 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 37.6%. The school's actual rate is 22.6%, 15.0 points lower.
Census data for Fresno County show the median household earns about $74,201 a year, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 14% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Fresno County number 368, with about 206,072 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Sunset Elementary, is about 0.1 miles. Around the school, 7 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Nell Dawson Elementary is 2nd among 5 schools close by.
Nell Dawson Elementary has an NCES locale of Town: Remote.
Enrollment fell 3% over 4 years, reaching 405 in 2024-25. The ratio of students to teachers went from 22.0:1 to 18.4:1 over the same years.
This community page is for conversations about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Fresno County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,016,725
Census ACS
Median income
$74,201
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
368
206,072 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Coalinga-Huron Unified
- Coalinga HighHigh · 1,256 students
- Huron ElementaryElementary · 723 students
- Coalinga MiddleMiddle · 662 students
- Sunset ElementaryElementary · 442 students
- Henry F. Bishop ElementaryElementary · 412 students
- Huron MiddleMiddle · 344 students
Other schools in Coalinga
- Coalinga HighHigh · 1,256 students
- Coalinga MiddleMiddle · 662 students
- Sunset ElementaryElementary · 442 students
- Henry F. Bishop ElementaryElementary · 412 students
- Annie E. Cheney KindergartenElementary · 74 students
- Cambridge HighHigh · 48 students
Nearby schools
- Sunset Elementary0.1 mi · 442
- Henry F. Bishop Elementary0.2 mi · 412
- Miles W. Culwell Community Day0.2 mi · 5
- Coalinga High0.2 mi · 1,256
- Cambridge High0.2 mi · 48
- Coalinga Middle0.3 mi · 662
Frequently asked questions
About Nell Dawson ElementaryHow many students attend Nell Dawson Elementary?
Nell Dawson Elementary enrolls approximately 405 students in grades 01-03.
Is Nell Dawson Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Nell Dawson Elementary is an elementary school covering grades 01-03.
How many teachers does Nell Dawson Elementary have?
Nell Dawson Elementary employs 22 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Nell Dawson Elementary?
Student demographics at Nell Dawson Elementary are roughly 12% White, 84% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is Nell Dawson Elementary in?
Nell Dawson Elementary is part of Coalinga-Huron Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.