Enrollment
214
Elementary
DISTRICT 235 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOQUEL UNION ELEMENTARY·NCES 063729006310
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary
8005 Winkle Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95065 · (831) 464-5670 · Santa Cruz County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL214 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 29% 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.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C+Three-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
24.3:1
9 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.1:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
30%
65 students
DISTRICT 31% · 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 | 49 | 23% |
| Grade 1 | 31 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 42 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 31 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 28 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 33 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (49) is 48% larger than its 5th grade class (33).
Student demographics
57%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary→New Brighton Middle
Based on grade levels within Soquel Union Elementary. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
49.5%
CA avg 49.1% . -3.5pp since 2014
Math
35.9%
CA avg 37.7% . -6.1pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 49 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 4 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 6 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 25.3% | 24.2% | 22.0% | 28.6% |
| Math | 14.1% | 21.7% | 33.7% | 30.4% |
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 | 49.5% | 35.9% |
| 2023-24 | 40.5% | 46.4% |
| 2022-23 | 44.7% | 45.6% |
| 2021-22 | 44.1% | 42.7% |
| 2018-19 | 60.4% | 55.8% |
| 2017-18 | 54.3% | 49.1% |
| 2016-17 | 60.4% | 55.5% |
| 2015-16 | 60.0% | 52.0% |
| 2014-15 | 53.0% | 42.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
43.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.7%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 62% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary this school | 214 | 30.4% | 43.2% |
| Plaza Elementary Orland | 215 | 29.8% | 63.1% |
| Creekside Early Learning Center Alpine | 227 | 33.9% | N/A |
| Saint Helena Primary St. Helena | 193 | 28.0% | N/A |
| Valley Home Elementary Valley Home | 191 | 34.0% | 30.4% |
| Woodland Star Charter Glen Ellen | 244 | 34.8% | N/A |
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 Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Cruz County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.2% | #2,221 of 5,151 | #18 of 36 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 35.9% | #2,667 of 5,172 ▼ 936 | #20 of 36 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.5% | #2,076 of 5,172 ▲ 604 | #17 of 36 ▲ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.8pp | #1,556 of 5,116 | #15 of 36 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 214 | #5,298 of 5,915 | #33 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 24.3:1 | #3,980 of 5,352 | #30 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.9% | #2,138 of 5,354 | #7 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 30.4% | #4,742 of 5,625 | #25 of 37 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -34.2% | #341 of 3,837 | #4 of 30 |
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
214
-20 (-9%) vs 2020
-66% since 1990-91, when it was 623
Student : Teacher
24.3:1
was 26.0:1
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 | 214 | 8.8 | 24.3:1 | 30% (65) |
| 2023-24 | 204 | 8.8 | 23.2:1 | 38% (78) |
| 2022-23 | 232 | 8.8 | 26.4:1 | 32% (75) |
| 2020-21 | 234 | 9 | 26.0:1 | 25% (58) |
| 2017-18 | 325 | 12.5 | 26.0:1 | 33% (107) |
| 2015-16 | 320 | 13 | 24.6:1 | 37% (118) |
| 2010-11 | 278 | N/A | N/A | 46% (129) |
| 2000-01 | 336 | 17 | 19.8:1 | 39% (130) |
| 1990-91 | 623 | 27 | 23.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 34% (325 to 214); teachers down 30% (12.5 to 8.8).
About Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is a public elementary school run by Soquel Union Elementary in Santa Cruz, California. Students in kindergarten through 5 make up the school's enrollment of 214 students. Elementary schools in California average about 465 students, which makes this school 54% below average.
A total of 5 schools make up Soquel Union Elementary, with 1,525 students enrolled.
The largest group at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is White students, at 53%. Other students are 38% Hispanic and 7% multiracial. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 57%.
There are about 24.3 students for every full-time-equivalent teacher at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary, which has 8.8. Elementary schools in California average 22.3:1, 2.0 fewer students per teacher than here. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is about 30%. That rate is below the 52% average among public schools in Santa Cruz County.
On the allk12 Grade, Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary lands at C, ahead of 29% of California public elementary schools.
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is 18.6 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in California.
In Santa Cruz County, median household income comes to about $111,093, roughly 44% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Santa Cruz County counts 83 public schools with about 36,316 students.
Measured in a straight line, De Laveaga Elementary is about 1.3 miles from Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. The school's 43.2% average proficiency ranks 8th among 9 nearby schools.
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary falls in the Suburb: Mid-size locale category, used for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary had a net loss of 20 students, or 9%. By 2024-25, the school had 24.3 students per teacher, compared with 26.0 in 2020-21.
The allk12 page for Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary lets the school community talk about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
Santa Cruz County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
264,926
Census ACS
Median income
$111,093
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
44%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
36,316 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Soquel Union Elementary
- New Brighton MiddleMiddle · 585 students
- Main Street ElementaryElementary · 383 students
- Soquel ElementaryElementary · 337 students
- Opal CliffsElementary · 6 students
Other schools in Santa Cruz
- Santa Cruz HighHigh · 1,093 students
- Harbor HighHigh · 1,013 students
- Santa Cruz County CommunityHigh · 730 students
- Pacific Collegiate CharterHigh · 536 students
- Mission Hill MiddleMiddle · 510 students
- Brook Knoll ElementaryElementary · 498 students
Nearby schools
- De Laveaga Elementary1.3 mi · 481
- Soquel High1.3 mi · 1,074
- Ocean Alternative Education Center1.4 mi · 76
- Green Acres Elementary1.5 mi · 262
- Tierra Pacifica Charter1.5 mi · 166
- Harbor High1.5 mi · 1,013
Frequently asked questions
About Santa Cruz Gardens ElementaryHow large is Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary?
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary enrolls approximately 214 students in grades KG-05.
Is Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is approximately 24.3:1 (9 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary?
Student demographics at Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary are roughly 53% White, 38% Hispanic, 1% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary public or private?
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Soquel Union Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.