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How has Panama Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
876
Elementary
DISTRICT 761 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PANAMA-BUENA VISTA UNION·NCES 060639009329
Panama Elementary
9400 Stine Rd., Bakersfield, CA 93313 · (661) 831-1741 · Kern County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL876 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
26.6:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
704 students
DISTRICT 78% · 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 | 182 | 21% |
| Grade 1 | 111 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 117 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 103 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 122 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 117 | 13% |
| Grade 6 | 124 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (182) is 47% larger than its 6th grade class (124).
Student demographics
53%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
49.8%
CA avg 49.1% . +13.8pp since 2014
Math
38.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +15.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 50 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 14 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 15 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 19.7% | 30.1% | 26.6% | 23.7% |
| Math | 17.6% | 20.7% | 31.7% | 30.0% |
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 | 49.8% | 38.3% |
| 2023-24 | 47.3% | 40.7% |
| 2022-23 | 51.3% | 43.1% |
| 2021-22 | 45.3% | 38.7% |
| 2018-19 | 51.5% | 38.9% |
| 2017-18 | 46.2% | 33.3% |
| 2016-17 | 44.0% | 28.1% |
| 2015-16 | 37.0% | 26.0% |
| 2014-15 | 36.0% | 23.0% |
% 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
43.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.5%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Panama Elementary
Panama Elementary's state test result (43.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panama Elementary this school | 876 | 80.4% | 43.8% |
| Bill L. Williams Elementary Bakersfield | 926 | 77.6% | 35.5% |
| Lincoln Elementary Manteca | 736 | 77.4% | 13.5% |
| Earl Warren Elementary Lake Elsinore | 821 | 81.2% | 34.9% |
| South/West Park Elementary Tracy | 806 | 80.4% | 39.5% |
| Berkshire Elementary Bakersfield | 932 | 85.1% | 26.4% |
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 Panama Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Kern County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.8% | #2,171 of 5,151 | #30 of 148 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.3% | #2,419 of 5,172 ▼ 290 | #38 of 150 ▼ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.8% | #2,048 of 5,172 ▲ 55 | #27 of 150 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +2.0pp | #2,634 of 5,116 | #81 of 147 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 876 | #206 of 5,915 | #14 of 163 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 26.6:1 | #5,022 of 5,352 | #141 of 145 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 53.5% | #2,479 of 5,354 | #50 of 145 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.4% | #2,157 of 5,625 | #98 of 153 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.6% | #917 of 1,139 | #35 of 42 |
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
876
+200 (+30%) vs 2020
+105% since 1990-91, when it was 427
Student : Teacher
26.6:1
was 26.0:1
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 | 876 | 33 | 26.6:1 | 80% (704) |
| 2023-24 | 868 | 32.5 | 26.7:1 | 79% (684) |
| 2022-23 | 797 | 30 | 26.6:1 | 80% (636) |
| 2020-21 | 676 | 26 | 26.0:1 | 70% (476) |
| 2017-18 | 854 | 29.5 | 28.9:1 | 77% (657) |
| 2015-16 | 817 | 30 | 27.2:1 | 71% (584) |
| 2010-11 | 616 | N/A | N/A | 68% (417) |
| 2000-01 | 818 | 40 | 20.4:1 | 42% (343) |
| 1990-91 | 427 | 20 | 21.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Panama Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (854 to 876); teachers up 12% (29.5 to 33).
About Panama Elementary
Panama Elementary is a public large elementary school in Bakersfield, California. It teaches 876 students in kindergarten through 6. By comparison, elementary schools in California enroll about 465 students on average.
Panama-Buena Vista Union enrolls 19,366 students, and its 25 schools include Panama Elementary.
More than half of the students at Panama Elementary are Hispanic (66%). Smaller groups are 10% Asian, 10% multiracial, 8% White, and 5% Black. For comparison, the population of Kern County is roughly 57% Hispanic. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 53%.
Staffing at Panama Elementary comes to 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 26.6:1. The school's 26.6:1 compares with an average of 22.3:1 for elementary schools in California. On the income side, 80% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Panama Elementary is +11.4 points: 43.8% actual, 32.5% predicted.
In Kern County, where the school is located, the median household earns about $70,210 a year, roughly 19% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 15%. Public schools in Kern County number 279, with about 197,431 students.
Panama Elementary's nearest public school is Ridgeview High (about 0.6 miles). In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Panama Elementary. Panama Elementary places 1st of 9 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Federal data place Panama Elementary in the City: Large locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 30% gain, from 676 to 876.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Kern County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
915,075
Census ACS
Median income
$70,210
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
279
197,431 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Panama-Buena Vista Union
- Dolores S. Whitley TK-8Elementary · 1,151 students
- Douglas J. Miller ElementaryElementary · 994 students
- Stonecreek Junior HighMiddle · 986 students
- Earl Warren Junior HighMiddle · 965 students
- Berkshire ElementaryElementary · 932 students
- Bill L. Williams ElementaryElementary · 926 students
Other schools in Bakersfield
- Bakersfield HighHigh · 3,069 students
- Ridgeview HighHigh · 2,575 students
- Highland HighHigh · 2,530 students
- Stockdale HighHigh · 2,398 students
- Liberty HighHigh · 2,369 students
- East Bakersfield HighHigh · 2,331 students
Other Panama Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Panama Elementary. Panama Elementary is the largest of the 2.
- Panama Elementary SchoolPanama, OK · 414 students
Nearby schools
- Ridgeview High0.6 mi · 2,575
- Stonecreek Junior High1.0 mi · 986
- Dolores S. Whitley TK-81.2 mi · 1,151
- Douglas J. Miller Elementary1.4 mi · 994
- Berkshire Elementary1.5 mi · 932
- Granite Pointe Elementary1.9 mi · 670
Frequently asked questions
About Panama ElementaryHow large is Panama Elementary?
Panama Elementary enrolls approximately 876 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Panama Elementary serve?
Panama Elementary serves grades KG-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Panama Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Panama Elementary is approximately 26.6:1 (33 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Panama Elementary?
At Panama Elementary, the student body is approximately 8% White, 66% Hispanic, 5% Black, 10% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Panama Elementary?
Panama Elementary is overseen by Panama-Buena Vista Union in Kern County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.