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What's the biggest difference between Sierra Elementary and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
707
Elementary
DISTRICT 562 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LANCASTER ELEMENTARY·NCES 062088002513
Sierra Elementary
747 West Avenue J-12, Lancaster, CA 93534 · (661) 942-9536 · Los Angeles County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL707 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
23.6:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.5:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
93%
656 students
DISTRICT 88% · 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 | 136 | 19% |
| Grade 1 | 125 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 107 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 107 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 125 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 107 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (136) is 27% larger than its 5th grade class (107).
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 56% · 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
22.0%
CA avg 49.1% . +6.0pp since 2014
Math
9.4%
CA avg 37.7% . +3.4pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 22 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 9 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 6 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 3 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 5.1% | 16.9% | 19.1% | 58.9% |
| Math | 2.9% | 6.6% | 25.4% | 65.1% |
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 | 22.0% | 9.4% |
| 2023-24 | 19.1% | 10.0% |
| 2022-23 | 19.0% | 11.1% |
| 2021-22 | 21.7% | 8.4% |
| 2018-19 | 24.0% | 11.0% |
| 2017-18 | 22.7% | 10.5% |
| 2016-17 | 20.5% | 9.6% |
| 2015-16 | 17.0% | 8.0% |
| 2014-15 | 16.0% | 6.0% |
% 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
15.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 15% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% 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 Sierra Elementary
Sierra Elementary's state test result (15.2% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Elementary this school | 707 | 92.8% | 15.2% |
| Brentwood Elementary Victorville | 790 | 92.4% | 11.2% |
| Desert View Elementary Lancaster | 688 | 89.0% | 13.3% |
| Woodworth-Monroe Academy Inglewood | 826 | 93.7% | 14.8% |
| Zela Davis Hawthorne | 843 | 93.6% | 34.5% |
| Mariposa Elementary Lancaster | 732 | 94.4% | 15.5% |
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 Sierra Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Los Angeles County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 15.2% | #4,920 of 5,151 | #1,115 of 1,126 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 9.4% | #5,067 of 5,172 ▼ 45 | #1,124 of 1,129 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 22.0% | #4,726 of 5,172 ▲ 72 | #1,091 of 1,129 ▲ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +0.6pp | #3,154 of 5,116 | #769 of 1,116 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 707 | #718 of 5,915 | #129 of 1,300 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.6:1 | #3,411 of 5,352 | #810 of 1,213 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.1% | #2,013 of 5,354 | #305 of 1,214 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 92.8% | #736 of 5,625 | #328 of 1,276 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +14.8% | #365 of 1,139 | #60 of 181 |
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
707
+106 (+18%) vs 2020
-12% since 1990-91, when it was 804
Student : Teacher
23.6:1
was 24.0:1
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 | 707 | 30 | 23.6:1 | 93% (656) |
| 2023-24 | 711 | 25 | 28.4:1 | 84% (596) |
| 2022-23 | 691 | 28 | 24.7:1 | 93% (644) |
| 2020-21 | 601 | 25 | 24.0:1 | 93% (556) |
| 2017-18 | 616 | 26 | 23.7:1 | 91% (559) |
| 2015-16 | 666 | 26 | 25.6:1 | 89% (590) |
| 2010-11 | 850 | N/A | N/A | 76% (650) |
| 2000-01 | 934 | 43 | 21.7:1 | 42% (392) |
| 1990-91 | 804 | 29 | 27.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sierra Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 15% (616 to 707); teachers up 15% (26 to 30).
About Sierra Elementary
In Lancaster, California, part of Los Angeles County, Sierra Elementary is an elementary school. There are 707 students enrolled, covering kindergarten through 5. On average, elementary schools in California enroll around 465, and this school is 52% above that mark.
Across its 23 schools, Lancaster Elementary enrolls 13,765 students. Sierra Elementary is one of those schools.
More than half of the students at Sierra Elementary are Hispanic (57%). Next come 29% Black, 6% White, and 6% multiracial. That compares with about 48% Hispanic among all Los Angeles County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 58%.
The school lists 30 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 23.6:1. The average for elementary schools in California is 22.3:1, so this school has more students per teacher. A total of 656 students, or 93%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in Los Angeles County average 70%.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Sierra Elementary is 10.0 points below its prediction. Actual: 15.2%. Predicted: 25.2%.
In the surrounding county, Los Angeles County, the median household earns about $90,112 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 36%, and about 10% of people live in poverty. Counting Sierra Elementary, Los Angeles County has 2,244 public schools.
Sierra Elementary is about 0.5 miles from Sunnydale Elementary, its nearest public school. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment rose by 18% across 4 years, from 601 in 2020-21 to 707 in 2024-25.
Use the discussion section to ask about homework, tutoring, and testing dates at Sierra Elementary. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Los Angeles County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
9,808,667
Census ACS
Median income
$90,112
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
2,244
1,265,907 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lancaster Elementary
- Amargosa Creek MiddleMiddle · 859 students
- New Vista MiddleMiddle · 835 students
- Endeavour MiddleMiddle · 805 students
- Monte Vista ElementaryElementary · 788 students
- El Dorado ElementaryElementary · 766 students
- West Wind ElementaryElementary · 757 students
Other schools in Lancaster
- Assurance Learning AcademyHigh · 3,014 students
- Lancaster HighHigh · 2,688 students
- Eastside HighHigh · 2,631 students
- Antelope Valley HighHigh · 1,498 students
- Sundown ElementaryElementary · 941 students
- Amargosa Creek MiddleMiddle · 859 students
Other Sierra Elementary schools
5 other US public schools in 3 states are named Sierra Elementary. Sierra Elementary is the largest of the 6.
- Sierra ElementaryRocklin, CA · 445 students
- Sierra ElementaryPlacerville, CA · 402 students
- Sierra Elementary SchoolARVADA, CO · 493 students
- SIERRA ELEMENTARYALAMOGORDO, NM · 284 students
- SIERRA ELEMENTARYT OR C, NM · 184 students
Nearby schools
- Sunnydale Elementary0.5 mi · 469
- RISE0.6 mi · 16
- The Leadership Academy0.6 mi · 35
- Empower Generations0.6 mi · 81
- Lancaster Alternative and Virtual Academies0.6 mi · 282
- Life Source International Charter0.8 mi · 210
Frequently asked questions
About Sierra ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Sierra Elementary?
Sierra Elementary enrolls approximately 707 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Sierra Elementary serve?
Sierra Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Sierra Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Sierra Elementary is approximately 23.6:1 (30 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Sierra Elementary?
At Sierra Elementary, the student body is approximately 6% White, 57% Hispanic, 29% Black, 2% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Sierra Elementary public or private?
Sierra Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Lancaster Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.