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How has Palmquist Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
512
Elementary
DISTRICT 524 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·OCEANSIDE UNIFIED·NCES 062825004370
Palmquist Elementary
1999 California St., Oceanside, CA 92054 · (760) 901-8500 · San Diego County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL512 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
26.4:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.6:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
289 students
DISTRICT 74% · 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 | 108 | 21% |
| Grade 1 | 77 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 91 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 77 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 84 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (108) is 29% larger than its 5th grade class (84).
Student demographics
61%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
44.1%
CA avg 49.1% . +12.1pp since 2014
Math
38.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +6.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 38 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 12 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 6 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 16.5% | 27.6% | 23.6% | 32.3% |
| Math | 19.5% | 18.7% | 30.7% | 31.1% |
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 | 44.1% | 38.3% |
| 2023-24 | 45.6% | 39.1% |
| 2022-23 | 45.5% | 35.3% |
| 2021-22 | 43.9% | 38.5% |
| 2018-19 | 55.5% | 42.4% |
| 2017-18 | 46.7% | 39.8% |
| 2016-17 | 44.3% | 37.7% |
| 2015-16 | 47.0% | 39.0% |
| 2014-15 | 32.0% | 32.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
41.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.5%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 41% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among California's top nor bottom 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 Palmquist Elementary
Palmquist Elementary's state test result (41.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmquist Elementary this school | 512 | 56.4% | 41.4% |
| Mira Monte Elementary Ojai | 523 | 54.7% | 37.4% |
| Jefferson Elementary Carlsbad | 471 | 54.4% | 50.2% |
| Willow Elementary Napa | 472 | 56.4% | 40.0% |
| Lake Arrowhead Elementary Lake Arrowhead | 450 | 54.2% | 38.9% |
| Hawthorne Elementary San Luis Obispo | 437 | 53.5% | 56.8% |
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 Palmquist Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 41.4% | #2,343 of 5,151 | #218 of 392 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.3% | #2,427 of 5,172 ▼ 168 | #220 of 393 ▼ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.1% | #2,539 of 5,172 ▼ 310 | #239 of 393 ▼ 24 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.0pp | #3,337 of 5,116 | #228 of 387 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 512 | #2,282 of 5,915 | #175 of 453 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 26.4:1 | #4,982 of 5,352 | #395 of 418 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.6% | #1,765 of 5,354 | #191 of 418 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.4% | #3,620 of 5,625 | #230 of 442 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.5% | #1,585 of 3,837 | #111 of 279 |
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
512
-41 (-7%) vs 2020
-40% since 1990-91, when it was 850
Student : Teacher
26.4:1
was 25.1:1
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 | 512 | 19.4 | 26.4:1 | 56% (289) |
| 2023-24 | 525 | 20.4 | 25.7:1 | 58% (307) |
| 2022-23 | 529 | 20.4 | 25.9:1 | 59% (314) |
| 2020-21 | 553 | 22 | 25.1:1 | 50% (274) |
| 2017-18 | 628 | 27.5 | 22.8:1 | 50% (312) |
| 2015-16 | 681 | 30 | 22.7:1 | 50% (342) |
| 2010-11 | 588 | N/A | N/A | 51% (299) |
| 2000-01 | 801 | 40 | 20.0:1 | 45% (359) |
| 1990-91 | 850 | 33 | 25.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Palmquist Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (628 to 512); teachers down 29% (27.5 to 19.4).
About Palmquist Elementary
A mid-sized elementary school in Oceanside, California, Palmquist Elementary is part of Oceanside Unified. There are 512 students enrolled, covering kindergarten through 5.
Oceanside Unified has 23 schools; together they serve 14,866 students.
No group is above 50% at Palmquist Elementary; the largest is White, at 45%. It is also 43% Hispanic and 8% multiracial. Among San Diego County residents, the White share is about 48%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 61%.
Palmquist Elementary has 19.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 26.4:1. Elementary schools in California have an average ratio of 22.3:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 56%. Public schools in San Diego County average a similar 54%.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 46.5% for Palmquist Elementary. The school posts 41.4%, 5.0 points below the prediction.
In San Diego County, the median household earns about $106,268 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 43%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Across San Diego County, 766 public schools serve about 467,437 students.
About 0.1 miles separate Palmquist Elementary from the closest public school, Lincoln Middle. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Palmquist Elementary ranks 2nd of 6 on average proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Palmquist Elementary as Suburb: Large, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment figures show a decline of 41 students from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The number of students per teacher increased from 25.1 to 26.4 over 4 years.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Palmquist Elementary. Members of the school community can share what they know.
San Diego County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,288,774
Census ACS
Median income
$106,268
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
766
467,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Oceanside Unified
- El Camino HighHigh · 2,463 students
- Oceanside HighHigh · 1,948 students
- Martin Luther King Jr. MiddleMiddle · 1,098 students
- North Terrace ElementaryElementary · 771 students
- Louise Foussat ElementaryElementary · 755 students
- Ivey Ranch ElementaryElementary · 698 students
Other schools in Oceanside
- El Camino HighHigh · 2,463 students
- Coastal Academy CharterCombined · 2,015 students
- Oceanside HighHigh · 1,948 students
- Mission Vista HighHigh · 1,670 students
- SIATechHigh · 1,174 students
- Madison MiddleMiddle · 1,158 students
Nearby schools
- Lincoln Middle0.1 mi · 621
- South Oceanside Elementary0.8 mi · 487
- Surfside Academy1.0 mi · 234
- Surfside High (Continuation)1.0 mi · 119
- Buena Vista Elementary1.3 mi · 281
- Mission Elementary1.5 mi · 419
Frequently asked questions
About Palmquist ElementaryHow large is Palmquist Elementary?
Palmquist Elementary enrolls approximately 512 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Palmquist Elementary serve?
Palmquist Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Palmquist Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Palmquist Elementary is approximately 26.4:1 (19 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Palmquist Elementary?
Palmquist Elementary reports a student body of 45% White, 43% Hispanic, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Palmquist Elementary in?
Palmquist Elementary is part of Oceanside Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.