Enrollment
329
Elementary
DISTRICT 389 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED·NCES 063753006355
Sunshine Gardens Elementary
1200 Miller Ave., South San Francisco, CA 94080 · (650) 877-8784 · San Mateo County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL329 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 28% 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.
- B+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
19.3:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.5:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
159 students
DISTRICT 43% · 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 | 65 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 52 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 50 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 67 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (67).
Student demographics
59%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
39.6%
CA avg 49.1% . +2.6pp since 2014
Math
35.1%
CA avg 37.7% . +4.1pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 35 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 3 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 15.6% | 24.0% | 26.6% | 33.8% |
| Math | 12.3% | 22.7% | 33.8% | 31.2% |
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 | 39.6% | 35.1% |
| 2023-24 | 36.2% | 32.3% |
| 2022-23 | 34.5% | 23.6% |
| 2021-22 | 34.6% | 28.7% |
| 2020-21 | 39.9% | 28.0% |
| 2018-19 | 46.6% | 36.5% |
| 2017-18 | 41.9% | 29.4% |
| 2016-17 | 35.4% | 29.0% |
| 2015-16 | 42.0% | 32.0% |
| 2014-15 | 37.0% | 31.0% |
% 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
35.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 51% 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 Sunshine Gardens Elementary
Sunshine Gardens Elementary's state test result (35.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunshine Gardens Elementary this school | 329 | 48.3% | 35.4% |
| George Mayne Elementary Alviso | 271 | 48.0% | 53.0% |
| Granada Elementary Alhambra | 348 | 54.6% | 33.2% |
| Coyote Hills Elementary Newark | 440 | 51.8% | 35.4% |
| Howard Wood Elementary Torrance | 344 | 42.4% | 57.6% |
| John Adams Elementary Torrance | 343 | 49.0% | 56.8% |
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 Sunshine Gardens Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Mateo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.4% | #2,920 of 5,151 | #76 of 96 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 35.1% | #2,742 of 5,172 ▲ 104 | #74 of 96 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 39.6% | #2,963 of 5,172 ▲ 143 | #73 of 96 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.7pp | #1,469 of 5,116 | #21 of 96 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 329 | #4,491 of 5,915 | #65 of 106 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.3:1 | #655 of 5,352 | #23 of 99 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.0% | #1,928 of 5,354 | #63 of 99 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.3% | #3,984 of 5,625 | #35 of 103 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.5% | #2,102 of 3,837 | #42 of 79 |
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
329
+1 (+0%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 442
Student : Teacher
19.3:1
was 19.3:1
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 | 329 | 17 | 19.3:1 | 48% (159) |
| 2023-24 | 334 | 16 | 20.9:1 | 45% (151) |
| 2022-23 | 334 | 16 | 20.9:1 | 50% (166) |
| 2020-21 | 328 | 17 | 19.3:1 | 51% (168) |
| 2017-18 | 385 | 17 | 22.6:1 | 55% (212) |
| 2015-16 | 402 | 17 | 23.6:1 | 52% (209) |
| 2010-11 | 404 | N/A | N/A | 59% (239) |
| 2000-01 | 390 | 20 | 19.5:1 | 44% (172) |
| 1990-91 | 442 | 16 | 27.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sunshine Gardens Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (385 to 329); teachers unchanged (17 to 17).
About Sunshine Gardens Elementary
Sunshine Gardens Elementary is a small elementary school in South San Francisco, California, one of the schools in South San Francisco Unified. A total of 329 students attend the school, which covers kindergarten through 5. The average for elementary schools in California is about 465 students, so this school is 29% smaller than average.
Sunshine Gardens Elementary is part of South San Francisco Unified, where 15 schools serve 7,644 students.
Hispanic students make up a majority at Sunshine Gardens Elementary, at 59%. The remaining shares are 22% Asian, 10% multiracial, and 4% White. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of San Mateo County's population at about 25%. Pick two students at random and there is a 59% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Sunshine Gardens Elementary employs 17 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 19.3:1. This ratio sits 3.0 below the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 48% in 2024-25. The rate at public schools in San Mateo County averages 34%, lower than here.
Sunshine Gardens Elementary is graded C by allk12, scoring above 28% of California public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate on state tests for Sunshine Gardens Elementary is 51.2%. It actually posts 35.4%, which is 15.8 points lower and in the bottom 10% of California schools.
Recent Census Bureau figures for San Mateo County show that the median household income is $158,855, roughly 54% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 4%. Sunshine Gardens Elementary is one of 176 public schools in the county.
The school nearest to Sunshine Gardens Elementary is El Camino High, at a distance of about 0.3 miles. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Sunshine Gardens Elementary places 5th out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
The federal government classifies Sunshine Gardens Elementary's location as City: Small.
Over 4 years, enrollment stayed close to where it was, going from 328 to 329.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
San Mateo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
742,340
Census ACS
Median income
$158,855
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
54%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
176
82,403 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in South San Francisco Unified
- South San Francisco HighHigh · 1,239 students
- El Camino HighHigh · 1,053 students
- Alta Loma MiddleMiddle · 652 students
- Buri Buri ElementaryElementary · 584 students
- Parkway Heights MiddleMiddle · 573 students
- Monte Verde ElementaryElementary · 517 students
Other schools in South San Francisco
- South San Francisco HighHigh · 1,239 students
- El Camino HighHigh · 1,053 students
- Alta Loma MiddleMiddle · 652 students
- Buri Buri ElementaryElementary · 584 students
- Parkway Heights MiddleMiddle · 573 students
- Westborough MiddleMiddle · 498 students
Nearby schools
- El Camino High0.3 mi · 1,053
- Parkway Heights Middle0.5 mi · 573
- Buri Buri Elementary0.8 mi · 584
- Alta Loma Middle0.8 mi · 652
- Baden High (Continuation)1.1 mi · 130
- Los Cerritos Elementary1.1 mi · 304
Frequently asked questions
About Sunshine Gardens ElementaryHow many students attend Sunshine Gardens Elementary?
Sunshine Gardens Elementary enrolls approximately 329 students in grades KG-05.
Is Sunshine Gardens Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Sunshine Gardens Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Sunshine Gardens Elementary have?
Sunshine Gardens Elementary employs 17 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 19.3:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Sunshine Gardens Elementary?
At Sunshine Gardens Elementary, the student body is approximately 4% White, 59% Hispanic, 2% Black, 22% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Sunshine Gardens Elementary?
Sunshine Gardens Elementary is overseen by South San Francisco Unified in San Mateo County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.