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What advice would you give to incoming students at Peggy Heller Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
712
Elementary
DISTRICT 500 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ATWATER ELEMENTARY·NCES 060342004672
Peggy Heller Elementary
201 Lake View Dr., Atwater, CA 95301 · (209) 357-6517 · Merced County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL712 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 39% of California public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- FThree-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
23.8:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
454 students
DISTRICT 81% · 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 | 82 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 55 | 8% |
| Grade 2 | 80 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 79 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 61 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 87 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 96 | 13% |
| Grade 8 | 92 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (82) is 11% smaller than its 8th grade class (92).
Student demographics
47%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
46.6%
CA avg 49.1% . -1.4pp since 2014
Math
35.8%
CA avg 37.7% . +6.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 36 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 1 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 7 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 14.3% | 32.3% | 22.9% | 30.5% |
| Math | 14.8% | 20.9% | 28.7% | 35.6% |
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 | 46.6% | 35.8% |
| 2023-24 | 48.5% | 36.0% |
| 2022-23 | 51.5% | 41.3% |
| 2021-22 | 55.7% | 43.1% |
| 2018-19 | 58.4% | 44.5% |
| 2017-18 | 56.8% | 43.6% |
| 2016-17 | 61.3% | 40.9% |
| 2015-16 | 54.0% | 35.0% |
| 2014-15 | 48.0% | 29.0% |
% 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
41.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 42% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 42% 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 Peggy Heller Elementary
Peggy Heller Elementary's state test result (41.5% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peggy Heller Elementary this school | 712 | 63.8% | 41.5% |
| Imperial Beach Charter Imperial Beach | 724 | 62.8% | 28.1% |
| Amelia Earhart Elementary School of International Studies Indio | 748 | 65.1% | 38.8% |
| Breeze Hill Elementary Vista | 742 | 65.0% | 46.5% |
| Joe Nightingale Elementary Santa Maria | 695 | 66.9% | 55.7% |
| Manuel F. Hernandez Visalia | 707 | 59.0% | 48.3% |
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 Peggy Heller Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Merced County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 41.5% | #2,338 of 5,151 | #8 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 35.8% | #2,675 of 5,172 ▼ 176 | #17 of 54 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.6% | #2,308 of 5,172 ▼ 297 | #7 of 54 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -8.2pp | #205 of 5,116 | #2 of 53 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 712 | #697 of 5,915 | #9 of 60 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.8:1 | #3,555 of 5,352 | #30 of 53 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 46.8% | #3,013 of 5,354 | #13 of 53 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 63.8% | #3,293 of 5,625 | #51 of 57 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +24.3% | #177 of 1,139 | #2 of 14 |
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
712
-26 (-4%) vs 2020
+32% since 2000-01, when it was 539
Student : Teacher
23.8:1
was 22.4:1
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 | 712 | 30 | 23.8:1 | 64% (454) |
| 2023-24 | 707 | 31.3 | 22.6:1 | 66% (466) |
| 2022-23 | 707 | 31.9 | 22.2:1 | 64% (454) |
| 2020-21 | 738 | 33 | 22.4:1 | 64% (473) |
| 2017-18 | 573 | 23 | 24.9:1 | 64% (364) |
| 2015-16 | 577 | 22 | 26.2:1 | 67% (384) |
| 2010-11 | 417 | N/A | N/A | 65% (273) |
| 2000-01 | 539 | 25 | 21.6:1 | 38% (205) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Peggy Heller Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 24% (573 to 712); teachers up 30% (23 to 30).
About Peggy Heller Elementary
Peggy Heller Elementary is a large elementary school with its address in Atwater, California. Enrollment stands at 712 students, covering kindergarten through 8. That is 53% above the average of about 465 students for elementary schools in California.
Atwater Elementary (11 schools, 4,925 students) runs Peggy Heller Elementary.
The largest group at Peggy Heller Elementary is Hispanic students, at 70%. Enrollment also includes 19% White, 5% Asian, and 3% multiracial. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Peggy Heller Elementary scores 47%.
Its staff includes 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 23.8 students per teacher. Across elementary schools in California, the average ratio is 22.3:1. Peggy Heller Elementary has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 64%. The gap from the 81% average for public schools in Merced County is 17 points.
Among California public elementary schools, Peggy Heller Elementary outscored 39%, which works out to a C+ on the allk12 Grade.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Peggy Heller Elementary would score about 42.2%. It scores 41.5%, within a point of that figure.
American Community Survey estimates for Merced County show that median household income comes to about $65,510, roughly 15% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 16%. The county's public schools total 117, with about 59,456 students.
Of the public schools around it, Peggy Heller Elementary is closest to Bellevue Elementary, about 0.9 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Nearby schools average 37.1% on proficiency, and Peggy Heller Elementary is above that at 41.5%.
Its location is classified as Suburb: Mid-size by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Peggy Heller Elementary had a net loss of 26 students, or 4%. The ratio of students to teachers went from 22.4:1 to 23.8:1 over the same years.
The allk12 page for Peggy Heller Elementary lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. You can also rate the school on this page.
Merced County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
290,201
Census ACS
Median income
$65,510
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
15%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
117
59,456 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Atwater Elementary
- Mitchell IntermediateMiddle · 744 students
- Bellevue ElementaryElementary · 599 students
- Mitchell ElementaryElementary · 528 students
- Elmer Wood ElementaryElementary · 514 students
- Juniper ElementaryElementary · 495 students
- Shaffer ElementaryElementary · 405 students
Other schools in Atwater
- Atwater HighHigh · 2,029 students
- Buhach Colony HighHigh · 1,704 students
- Mitchell IntermediateMiddle · 744 students
- Bellevue ElementaryElementary · 599 students
- Mitchell ElementaryElementary · 528 students
- Elmer Wood ElementaryElementary · 514 students
Nearby schools
- Bellevue Elementary0.9 mi · 599
- Bellevue Senior Elementary0.9 mi · 178
- Elmer Wood Elementary0.9 mi · 514
- Thomas Olaeta Elementary1.1 mi · 374
- Atwater High1.3 mi · 2,029
- Winfield Elementary1.4 mi · 444
Frequently asked questions
About Peggy Heller ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Peggy Heller Elementary?
Peggy Heller Elementary enrolls approximately 712 students in grades KG-08.
What age range does Peggy Heller Elementary serve?
Peggy Heller Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Peggy Heller Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Peggy Heller Elementary is approximately 23.8:1 (30 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Peggy Heller Elementary?
Peggy Heller Elementary reports a student body of 19% White, 70% Hispanic, 2% Black, 5% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Peggy Heller Elementary in?
Peggy Heller Elementary is part of Atwater Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.