Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary

Set in Lake Forest, California, Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary is a roomy K-5 school, part of Saddleback Valley Unified. It teaches 896 students across grades K through 6. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary sits 93% larger than that benchmark.

Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary is one of 33 schools operated by Saddleback Valley Unified, a district that teaches 22,646 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary logs that 81% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school records 12% White, 4% multiracial, 2% Asian. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 34%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary reports 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 28.6:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Roughly 65% of students at Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is above Orange County's rate of about 55%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 40.7%; this one delivers 35.2%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Orange County indicate the typical household earns roughly $116,289 per year, about 44% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Orange County's 649 public schools (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students), Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Los Alisos Intermediate, roughly 0.4 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 45.1%.

The school occupies a residential site.

Over the past 7-year window. Ralph A. Gates DLI Magnet Elementary's enrollment has decreased 13% since 2018, when it stood at 1,027 (now 896). Class-load math has tightened: from 29.9:1 in 2018 to 28.6:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.