1
What advice would you give to incoming students at Thomas Olaeta Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
374
Elementary
DISTRICT 500 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ATWATER ELEMENTARY·NCES 060342000262
Thomas Olaeta Elementary
2266 High St., Atwater, CA 95301 · (209) 357-6148 · Merced County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL374 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% 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.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- AThree-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
22.0:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
276 students
DISTRICT 81% · STATE 65%
Community
1
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 | 64 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 43 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 53 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 50 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 54 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 53 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 57 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (64) is 12% larger than its 6th grade class (57).
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
52.0%
CA avg 49.1% . -1.0pp since 2014
Math
44.7%
CA avg 37.7% . +5.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 52 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 up about 6 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 22.2% | 29.8% | 26.3% | 21.7% |
| Math | 24.1% | 20.6% | 31.7% | 23.6% |
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 | 52.0% | 44.7% |
| 2023-24 | 50.5% | 46.5% |
| 2022-23 | 43.5% | 39.5% |
| 2021-22 | 43.7% | 34.1% |
| 2018-19 | 56.5% | 40.2% |
| 2017-18 | 49.8% | 43.2% |
| 2016-17 | 47.3% | 39.2% |
| 2015-16 | 52.0% | 45.0% |
| 2014-15 | 53.0% | 39.0% |
% 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
48.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.3%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+12.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 36% 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 Thomas Olaeta Elementary
Thomas Olaeta Elementary's state test result (48.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Olaeta Elementary this school | 374 | 73.8% | 48.6% |
| Sonora Elementary Costa Mesa | 367 | 74.7% | 49.0% |
| Hueneme Elementary Port Hueneme | 329 | 72.9% | 21.4% |
| Glen Oak Elementary Covina | 428 | 75.2% | 40.8% |
| Conyer Elementary Visalia | 377 | 74.3% | 32.7% |
| Gretchen Higgins Elementary Dixon | 353 | 75.9% | 22.2% |
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 Thomas Olaeta Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Merced County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.6% | #1,817 of 5,151 | #2 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.7% | #1,949 of 5,172 ▼ 222 | #3 of 54 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 52.0% | #1,885 of 5,172 ▼ 22 | #4 of 54 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +9.5pp | #668 of 5,116 | #11 of 53 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 374 | #4,001 of 5,915 | #45 of 60 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.0:1 | #2,180 of 5,352 | #17 of 53 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.9% | #3,374 of 5,354 | #19 of 53 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 73.8% | #2,708 of 5,625 | #46 of 57 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -39.4% | #157 of 3,837 | #2 of 35 |
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
374
-162 (-30%) vs 2020
-18% since 1990-91, when it was 456
Student : Teacher
22.0:1
was 22.3:1
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 | 374 | 17 | 22.0:1 | 74% (276) |
| 2023-24 | 387 | 16 | 24.2:1 | 78% (302) |
| 2022-23 | 564 | 24.2 | 23.3:1 | 74% (415) |
| 2020-21 | 536 | 24 | 22.3:1 | 69% (371) |
| 2017-18 | 617 | 24 | 25.7:1 | 72% (446) |
| 2015-16 | 548 | 21 | 26.1:1 | 76% (415) |
| 2010-11 | 490 | N/A | N/A | 76% (372) |
| 2000-01 | 401 | 20 | 20.1:1 | 63% (252) |
| 1990-91 | 456 | 18 | 25.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas Olaeta Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 39% (617 to 374); teachers down 29% (24 to 17).
About Thomas Olaeta Elementary
Thomas Olaeta Elementary is an elementary school with a street address in Atwater, California. The school had 374 students in kindergarten through 6 in 2024-25.
The 11 schools of Atwater Elementary, including Thomas Olaeta Elementary, enroll 4,925 students.
Thomas Olaeta Elementary's enrollment is 75% Hispanic. Next come 14% White, 5% Asian, and 3% multiracial. That compares with about 63% Hispanic among all Merced County residents. By the diversity index, Thomas Olaeta Elementary comes in at 41%.
Teachers at Thomas Olaeta Elementary total 17 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 22.0:1. Across elementary schools in California, the average ratio is about 22.3:1. The school counts 276 students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or 74%.
allk12 grades Thomas Olaeta Elementary an A-. The grade compares the school only with California public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
In California, Thomas Olaeta Elementary is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 48.6% actual against a predicted 36.3%.
Census Bureau estimates for Merced County show that median household income is about $65,510, 15% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. A total of 117 public schools operate in Merced County, serving about 59,456 students.
The nearest other public school, Shaffer Elementary, is about 0.6 miles away. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Thomas Olaeta Elementary. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Thomas Olaeta Elementary is 1st on average proficiency.
The school's federal locale classification is Suburb: Mid-size.
Enrollment was 536 in 2020-21 and 374 in 2024-25, a decrease of 162 students.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Merced County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
290,201
Census ACS
Median income
$65,510
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
15%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
117
59,456 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Atwater Elementary
- Mitchell IntermediateMiddle · 744 students
- Peggy Heller ElementaryElementary · 712 students
- Bellevue ElementaryElementary · 599 students
- Mitchell ElementaryElementary · 528 students
- Elmer Wood ElementaryElementary · 514 students
- Juniper ElementaryElementary · 495 students
Other schools in Atwater
- Atwater HighHigh · 2,029 students
- Buhach Colony HighHigh · 1,704 students
- Mitchell IntermediateMiddle · 744 students
- Peggy Heller ElementaryElementary · 712 students
- Bellevue ElementaryElementary · 599 students
- Mitchell ElementaryElementary · 528 students
Nearby schools
- Shaffer Elementary0.6 mi · 405
- Juniper Elementary0.6 mi · 495
- Mitchell Intermediate0.7 mi · 744
- Elmer Wood Elementary0.7 mi · 514
- Bellevue Elementary0.7 mi · 599
- Bellevue Senior Elementary0.7 mi · 178
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas Olaeta ElementaryHow large is Thomas Olaeta Elementary?
Thomas Olaeta Elementary enrolls approximately 374 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Thomas Olaeta Elementary serve?
Thomas Olaeta Elementary serves grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Thomas Olaeta Elementary have?
Thomas Olaeta Elementary employs 17 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.0:1.
What is the student diversity at Thomas Olaeta Elementary?
Student demographics at Thomas Olaeta Elementary are roughly 14% White, 75% Hispanic, 2% Black, 5% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Thomas Olaeta Elementary public or private?
Thomas Olaeta Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Atwater Elementary.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.