1
Enrollment
502
Elementary
DISTRICT 453 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ORCUTT UNION ELEMENTARY·NCES 062871004461
Ralph Dunlap Elementary
1220 Oak Knoll Rd., Santa Maria, CA 93455 · (805) 938-8500 · Santa Barbara County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL502 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 18% of California public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-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
26.4:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 25.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
282 students
DISTRICT 67% · 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 | 72 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 73 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 63 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 70 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 82 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (72) is 12% smaller than its 6th grade class (82).
Student demographics
60%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
33.2%
CA avg 49.1% . -8.8pp since 2014
Math
32.5%
CA avg 37.7% . -4.5pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 33 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 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 9 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 5 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 12.0% | 21.2% | 29.0% | 37.8% |
| Math | 13.9% | 18.6% | 27.9% | 39.6% |
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 | 33.2% | 32.5% |
| 2023-24 | 34.4% | 31.4% |
| 2022-23 | 32.3% | 28.5% |
| 2021-22 | 42.0% | 30.9% |
| 2018-19 | 52.9% | 42.9% |
| 2017-18 | 55.4% | 47.1% |
| 2016-17 | 46.7% | 45.5% |
| 2015-16 | 45.0% | 39.0% |
| 2014-15 | 42.0% | 37.0% |
% 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
33.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.6%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 47% 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 Ralph Dunlap Elementary
Ralph Dunlap Elementary's state test result (33.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ralph Dunlap Elementary this school | 502 | 56.2% | 33.1% |
| Citrus Glen Elementary Ventura | 491 | 58.7% | 33.8% |
| Monte Vista Elementary Vista | 556 | 55.6% | 39.1% |
| Pine Grove Elementary Santa Maria | 569 | 58.7% | 51.4% |
| Roosevelt Elementary Santa Barbara | 463 | 55.1% | 48.9% |
| Bradley Elementary Watsonville | 520 | 54.2% | 30.9% |
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 Ralph Dunlap Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Barbara County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.1% | #3,147 of 5,151 | #38 of 66 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.5% | #2,967 of 5,172 ▼ 37 | #35 of 66 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 33.2% | #3,642 of 5,172 ▼ 351 | #41 of 66 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -3.6pp | #825 of 5,116 | #13 of 66 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 502 | #2,407 of 5,915 | #28 of 75 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 26.4:1 | #4,993 of 5,352 | #61 of 63 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.0% | #1,820 of 5,354 | #12 of 63 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.2% | #3,638 of 5,625 | #43 of 70 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.9% | #2,163 of 3,837 | #19 of 47 |
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
502
-16 (-3%) vs 2020
-20% since 1990-91, when it was 631
Student : Teacher
26.4:1
was 24.7:1
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 | 502 | 19 | 26.4:1 | 56% (282) |
| 2023-24 | 486 | 19 | 25.6:1 | 43% (209) |
| 2022-23 | 471 | 18 | 26.2:1 | 40% (190) |
| 2020-21 | 518 | 21 | 24.7:1 | 37% (190) |
| 2017-18 | 583 | 23 | 25.4:1 | 34% (196) |
| 2015-16 | 625 | 22 | 28.4:1 | 24% (151) |
| 2010-11 | 539 | N/A | N/A | 24% (128) |
| 2000-01 | 609 | 26 | 23.4:1 | 15% (93) |
| 1990-91 | 631 | 22 | 28.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ralph Dunlap Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (583 to 502); teachers down 17% (23 to 19).
About Ralph Dunlap Elementary
Ralph Dunlap Elementary is a medium-sized elementary school for students in Santa Maria, California. The school serves 502 students in kindergarten through 6 in 2024-25.
Orcutt Union Elementary is responsible for 10 schools, Ralph Dunlap Elementary included, with 4,911 students in all.
Roughly 53% of students at Ralph Dunlap Elementary are Hispanic. Other reported shares: 34% White, 9% multiracial, and 3% Asian. The school's diversity index is 60%, meaning two students picked at random have a 60% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school reports 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 26.4 students per teacher. That is 4.1 students per teacher above the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 56% of students. The average for public schools in Santa Barbara County is 68%.
Ralph Dunlap Elementary is graded C- by allk12, scoring above 18% of California public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Compared with California schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Ralph Dunlap Elementary's results are 13.5 points below predicted: 33.1% against 46.6%.
In the county around the school, Santa Barbara County, the median household income is $98,161, about 37% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. Santa Barbara County is home to 129 public schools and about 66,191 public school students.
The closest public school to Ralph Dunlap Elementary is Orcutt School for Independent Study, less than a tenth of a mile away. Ralph Dunlap Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Nearby schools with test data average 41.6% proficiency; Ralph Dunlap Elementary posts 33.1%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Mid-size. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school enrolled 502 students in 2024-25, 16 fewer than the 518 it had in 2020-21. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 24.7:1; by 2024-25 it was 26.4:1.
Conversations here can range across school safety, transportation, and start times. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Santa Barbara County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
443,701
Census ACS
Median income
$98,161
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
129
66,191 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Orcutt Union Elementary
- Orcutt Academy CharterCombined · 812 students
- Joe Nightingale ElementaryElementary · 695 students
- Patterson Road ElementaryElementary · 662 students
- Pine Grove ElementaryElementary · 569 students
- Alice Shaw ElementaryElementary · 530 students
- Orcutt Junior HighMiddle · 464 students
Other schools in Santa Maria
- Santa Maria HighHigh · 3,143 students
- Pioneer Valley HighHigh · 3,080 students
- Ernest Righetti HighHigh · 2,416 students
- JIMENEZ ROBERTO AND DR. FRANCISCO ELEMENTARYElementary · 1,177 students
- Bruce (Robert) ElementaryElementary · 1,050 students
- Alvin ElementaryElementary · 998 students
Nearby schools
- Orcutt School for Independent Study0.0 mi · 44
- Family Partnership Charter0.3 mi · 372
- Olive Grove Charter - Orcutt/Santa Maria0.5 mi · 153
- Pine Grove Elementary1.0 mi · 569
- Patterson Road Elementary1.0 mi · 662
- Ernest Righetti High1.1 mi · 2,416
Frequently asked questions
About Ralph Dunlap ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Ralph Dunlap Elementary?
Ralph Dunlap Elementary enrolls approximately 502 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Ralph Dunlap Elementary serve?
Ralph Dunlap Elementary serves grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Ralph Dunlap Elementary have?
Ralph Dunlap Elementary employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 26.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Ralph Dunlap Elementary?
Student demographics at Ralph Dunlap Elementary are roughly 34% White, 53% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Ralph Dunlap Elementary public or private?
Ralph Dunlap Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Orcutt Union Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.