Rachel Carson Elementary

Located at 4245 Meg Dr., in San Jose, California, Rachel Carson Elementary is an intimate K-5 school that enrolls 199 students (grades K through 5), overseen by San Jose Unified. Enrollment runs roughly 57% below the state mean of about 465.

Rachel Carson Elementary is one of 41 schools operated by San Jose Unified, a district that teaches 24,322 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Rachel Carson Elementary records that the most-represented group is Hispanic (48%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest looks like 19% Asian, 18% White, 10% multiracial, 5% Black. By comparison, Santa Clara County as a whole is about 25% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Rachel Carson Elementary has 12 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Around 47% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Santa Clara County runs at roughly 37%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Rachel Carson Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 51.4%, the actual is 38.4%, a residual of -12.9 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Santa Clara County put the typical household earns roughly $164,281 per year, about 57% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 4%. Rachel Carson Elementary is one of 412 public schools in Santa Clara County (combined enrollment of about 230,059 students).

Nearest neighbor: Parkview Elementary, around 0.5 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Rachel Carson Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Rachel Carson Elementary at 3rd of 7; the average score across the group is 34.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Rachel Carson Elementary's enrollment has contracted 35% since 2018, when it stood at 307 (now 199). Over the same period, the White share shrank from 23% to 18%. Class-load math has fell: from 21.0:1 in 2018 to 16.4:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Rachel Carson Elementary typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.