New Hope Elementary

New Hope Elementary is an one-room-style elementary-level community in Thornton, California, overseen by New Hope Elementary. The school serves 164 students in grades K through 8. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so New Hope Elementary sits 65% smaller than that benchmark.

Operationally, New Hope Elementary answers to New Hope Elementary, which sets policy, hires staff, and reports enrollment to the state.

Looking at the student body, New Hope Elementary logs that 90% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 5% White, 2% multiracial. That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 43%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, New Hope Elementary has 9 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. About 78% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, San Joaquin County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, New Hope Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 33.0%, the actual is 31.9%, a residual of -1.1 points.

Zooming out to the county, San Joaquin County reports that the typical household earns roughly $92,179 per year, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. New Hope Elementary is one of 251 public schools in San Joaquin County (combined enrollment of about 153,026 students).

The closest other public school is Walnut Grove Elementary, roughly 4.8 miles away. Within ten miles, there are 8 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), New Hope Elementary ranks 7th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 39.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a low-density area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 13%: 188 students in 2018 compared to 164 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 17.1:1 in 2018 to 18.9:1 today.

On this page, the feed for New Hope Elementary typically covers classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.