Enrollment
366
Elementary
DISTRICT 416 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAN DIEGO UNIFIED·NCES 063432005534
Penn Elementary
2797 Utica Dr., San Diego, CA 92139 · (619) 430-1700 · San Diego County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL366 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 72% of California public elementary schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- CThree-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
22.9:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.6:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
81%
298 students
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 65%
Community
0
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 | 75 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 50 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 56 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 54 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 66 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 65 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (75) is 15% larger than its 5th grade class (65).
Student demographics
61%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
55.8%
CA avg 49.1% . +6.8pp since 2014
Math
35.7%
CA avg 37.7% . +0.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 56 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 up about 7 points since 2014, while math scores have held steady.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 27.6% | 28.2% | 18.2% | 26.0% |
| Math | 18.1% | 17.6% | 28.0% | 36.3% |
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 | 55.8% | 35.7% |
| 2023-24 | 53.4% | 40.1% |
| 2022-23 | 51.1% | 31.3% |
| 2021-22 | 56.6% | 36.6% |
| 2018-19 | 53.4% | 46.6% |
| 2017-18 | 54.5% | 52.2% |
| 2016-17 | 58.1% | 50.3% |
| 2015-16 | 57.0% | 43.0% |
| 2014-15 | 49.0% | 35.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
46.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+15.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 32% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 15 points, placing it in California's top 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 Penn Elementary
Penn Elementary's state test result (46.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Elementary this school | 366 | 81.4% | 46.8% |
| John Marshall Elementary Stockton | 394 | 81.7% | 9.0% |
| Boone Elementary San Diego | 342 | 84.2% | 27.1% |
| Bonita Street Elementary Carson | 399 | 77.9% | 41.2% |
| Dolores Street Elementary Carson | 370 | 85.1% | 39.4% |
| Louis A. Bohn Elementary Tracy | 397 | 82.9% | 31.2% |
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 Penn Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.8% | #1,941 of 5,151 | #193 of 392 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 35.7% | #2,681 of 5,172 ▼ 500 | #238 of 393 ▼ 28 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.8% | #1,626 of 5,172 ▲ 36 | #174 of 393 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.8pp | #1,551 of 5,116 | #139 of 387 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 366 | #4,112 of 5,915 | #326 of 453 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.9:1 | #2,893 of 5,352 | #194 of 418 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.8% | #1,746 of 5,354 | #188 of 418 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 81.4% | #2,050 of 5,625 | #100 of 442 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.0% | #2,944 of 3,837 | #209 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
366
+2 (+1%) vs 2020
-60% since 1990-91, when it was 904
Student : Teacher
22.9:1
was 19.2:1
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 | 366 | 16 | 22.9:1 | 81% (298) |
| 2023-24 | 380 | 17 | 22.4:1 | 76% (288) |
| 2022-23 | 387 | 18 | 21.5:1 | 80% (310) |
| 2020-21 | 364 | 19 | 19.2:1 | 59% (214) |
| 2017-18 | 398 | 15 | 26.5:1 | 80% (317) |
| 2015-16 | 367 | 14 | 26.2:1 | 78% (288) |
| 2010-11 | 430 | N/A | N/A | 79% (338) |
| 2000-01 | 848 | 43 | 19.7:1 | 49% (416) |
| 1990-91 | 904 | 35 | 25.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Penn Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 8% (398 to 366); teachers up 7% (15 to 16).
About Penn Elementary
Penn Elementary is an elementary school in San Diego, California, according to federal school records. The student body numbers 366 students, from kindergarten through 5. An average school in this group (elementary schools in California) has about 465 students.
San Diego Unified counts 94,828 students in its 174 schools, and Penn Elementary is one of them.
Hispanic students make up a majority at Penn Elementary, at 58%. Smaller groups are 18% Asian, 11% Black, 10% multiracial, and 3% White. For comparison, the population of San Diego County is roughly 35% Hispanic. Penn Elementary's diversity index is 61%, against a US figure of 70%.
The school reports 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 22.9 students per teacher. For comparison, elementary schools in California average 22.3:1. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 81%. Across public schools in San Diego County, the average is 54%.
The allk12 Grade for Penn Elementary is B+. Compared with California public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 72% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Penn Elementary ranks in the top 10% of California schools. It scores 46.8%; the prediction is 31.8%.
In the county around the school, San Diego County, the median household income is $106,268, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 43% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. San Diego County is home to 766 public schools and about 467,437 public school students.
San Diego SCPA is located about 0.4 miles from Penn Elementary. The five-mile area around Penn Elementary holds at least 8 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 38.4%, lower than Penn Elementary's 46.8%.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Large: inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Penn Elementary had 364 students in 2020-21 and 366 in 2024-25, nearly the same. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 19.2:1 to 22.9:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at Penn Elementary. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 San Diego Unified
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Hoover HighHigh · 2,011 students
- Scripps Ranch HighHigh · 1,890 students
- Point Loma HighHigh · 1,724 students
- San Diego HighHigh · 1,602 students
Other schools in San Diego
- Del Norte HighHigh · 2,557 students
- Torrey Pines HighHigh · 2,536 students
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Rancho Bernardo HighHigh · 2,210 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Canyon Crest AcademyHigh · 2,147 students
Other Penn Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Penn Elementary. Penn Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- Penn Elementary SchoolNorth Liberty, IA · 512 students
- Penn Elementary SchoolChicago, IL · 218 students
Nearby schools
- San Diego SCPA0.4 mi · 1,297
- Pacific View Leadership Elementary0.6 mi · 227
- Zamorano Elementary0.7 mi · 823
- Valley Vista Elementary1.0 mi · 513
- Bethune K-81.1 mi · 520
- Perry Elementary1.1 mi · 341
Frequently asked questions
About Penn ElementaryHow many students attend Penn Elementary?
Penn Elementary enrolls approximately 366 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Penn Elementary serve?
Penn Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Penn Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Penn Elementary is approximately 22.9:1 (16 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Penn Elementary?
At Penn Elementary, the student body is approximately 3% White, 58% Hispanic, 11% Black, 18% Asian, 10% Two or more.
What district is Penn Elementary in?
Penn Elementary is part of San Diego Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.