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Does Taft Elementary have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
408
Elementary
DISTRICT 530 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SANTA ANA UNIFIED·NCES 063531006009
Taft Elementary
500 West Keller, Santa Ana, CA 92707 · (714) 431-7700 · Orange County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL408 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 3% of California public elementary schools
- FTest 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.
- CThree-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
15.7:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.3:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
348 students
DISTRICT 91% · 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 | 90 | 22% |
| Grade 1 | 52 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 45 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 61 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 71 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 51 | 13% |
| Grade 6 | 38 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (90) is 137% larger than its 6th grade class (38).
Student demographics
19%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 8% · 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
Taft Elementary→Saddleback High
Based on grade levels within Santa Ana Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
17.6%
CA avg 49.1% . -0.4pp since 2014
Math
13.4%
CA avg 37.7% . -3.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 18 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2014, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 4.3% | 13.3% | 25.2% | 57.1% |
| Math | 3.2% | 10.2% | 27.8% | 58.8% |
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 | 17.6% | 13.4% |
| 2023-24 | 13.7% | 13.0% |
| 2022-23 | 23.5% | 14.3% |
| 2021-22 | 20.1% | 12.4% |
| 2020-21 | 18.4% | 10.9% |
| 2018-19 | 24.6% | 17.5% |
| 2017-18 | 20.3% | 16.8% |
| 2016-17 | 14.3% | 12.6% |
| 2015-16 | 27.0% | 21.0% |
| 2014-15 | 18.0% | 17.0% |
% 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
14.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
29.6%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 15% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 30% 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 Taft Elementary
Taft Elementary's state test result (14.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taft Elementary this school | 408 | 85.3% | 14.8% |
| Valencia Park Elementary Fullerton | 398 | 85.4% | 24.2% |
| McKinnon Salinas | 439 | 85.4% | 22.6% |
| Indianola Elementary Selma | 420 | 87.1% | 26.0% |
| Olivewood Elementary Lake Forest | 396 | 85.9% | 28.2% |
| O. S. Hubbard Elementary San Jose | 427 | 85.0% | 13.8% |
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 Taft Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Orange County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.8% | #4,949 of 5,151 | #377 of 381 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 13.4% | #4,874 of 5,172 ▼ 40 | #377 of 382 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 17.6% | #4,963 of 5,172 ▲ 103 | #376 of 382 ▲ 5 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -0.7pp | #1,584 of 5,116 | #118 of 381 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 408 | #3,603 of 5,915 | #285 of 404 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.7:1 | #48 of 5,352 | #4 of 398 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 19.2% | #4,469 of 5,354 | #341 of 398 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 85.3% | #1,631 of 5,625 | #79 of 400 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -29.8% | #562 of 3,837 | #60 of 324 |
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
408
-85 (-17%) vs 2020
-45% since 1990-91, when it was 743
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
was 19.0:1
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 | 408 | 26 | 15.7:1 | 85% (348) |
| 2023-24 | 400 | 26.2 | 15.3:1 | 77% (307) |
| 2022-23 | 429 | 28.3 | 15.2:1 | 73% (314) |
| 2020-21 | 493 | 26 | 19.0:1 | 77% (382) |
| 2017-18 | 581 | 28 | 20.8:1 | 78% (451) |
| 2015-16 | 587 | 30 | 19.6:1 | 86% (507) |
| 2010-11 | 752 | N/A | N/A | 81% (606) |
| 2000-01 | 1,263 | 65 | 19.4:1 | 42% (536) |
| 1990-91 | 743 | 27 | 27.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Taft Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 30% (581 to 408); teachers down 7% (28 to 26).
About Taft Elementary
Taft Elementary operates as a mid-sized elementary school in Santa Ana, California. The school serves kindergarten through 6. Enrollment is 408 students.
Enrollment across the 51 schools in Santa Ana Unified totals 35,993 students.
By race and ethnicity, Taft Elementary is 90% Hispanic. Enrollment also includes 4% Asian and 4% White. The school's Hispanic share is 56 points above the 34% share among Orange County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 19%.
The school had 26 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 15.7:1. The gap from the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California is 6.6 students per teacher. The school reported 85% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. The gap from the 55% average for public schools in Orange County is 30 points.
Taft Elementary holds an F allk12 Grade, placing it above 3% of California public elementary schools.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results for Taft Elementary is 29.6%. It actually posts 14.8%, which is 14.8 points lower and in the bottom 10% of California schools.
In Orange County, home to about 3,165,820 people, median household income comes to about $116,289, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Orange County's 649 public schools enroll about 430,458 students and include Taft Elementary.
Taft Elementary's closest public school neighbor is Douglas MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate, about 0.6 miles away. The five-mile area around Taft Elementary holds at least 8 other public schools. Nearby schools average 35.2% on proficiency, and Taft Elementary is below that at 14.8%.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Large, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment decreased by 17% across 4 years, from 493 in 2020-21 to 408 in 2024-25. The ratio of students to teachers went from 19.0:1 to 15.7:1 over the same years.
This page collects posts and questions about Taft Elementary, such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Orange County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,165,820
Census ACS
Median income
$116,289
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
44%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
649
430,458 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Santa Ana Unified
- Santa Ana HighHigh · 2,505 students
- Segerstrom HighHigh · 2,376 students
- Valley HighHigh · 1,908 students
- Hector G. GodinezHigh · 1,687 students
- Century HighHigh · 1,519 students
- Saddleback HighHigh · 1,451 students
Other schools in Santa Ana
- Santa Ana HighHigh · 2,505 students
- Segerstrom HighHigh · 2,376 students
- OCSAHigh · 2,346 students
- Foothill HighHigh · 2,126 students
- Valley HighHigh · 1,908 students
- Hector G. GodinezHigh · 1,687 students
Other Taft Elementary schools
12 other US public schools in 10 states are named Taft Elementary. Taft Elementary is the 6th largest of the 13.
- Taft ElementaryStockton, CA · 449 students
- Taft ElementaryOrange, CA · 387 students
- Taft ElementaryRedwood City, CA · 357 students
- TAFT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLWASHINGTONVILLE, NY · 522 students
- Taft Elementary SchoolMESA, AZ · 491 students
Nearby schools
- Douglas MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate0.6 mi · 1,005
- Saddleback High0.8 mi · 1,451
- California Pacific Charter- Los Angeles1.2 mi · 423
- California Pacific Charter - San Diego1.2 mi · 310
- Jefferson Elementary1.3 mi · 616
- Greenville Fundamental Elementary1.4 mi · 817
Frequently asked questions
About Taft ElementaryHow many students attend Taft Elementary?
Taft Elementary enrolls approximately 408 students in grades KG-06.
Is Taft Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Taft Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Taft Elementary have?
Taft Elementary employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.7:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Taft Elementary?
At Taft Elementary, the student body is approximately 4% White, 90% Hispanic, 0% Black, 4% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Taft Elementary public or private?
Taft Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Santa Ana Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.