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Alumni: what's one memory from Thomas Paine Elementary that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
428
Elementary
DISTRICT 432 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED·NCES 061488001869
Thomas Paine Elementary
15792 Ward St., Garden Grove, CA 92843 · (714) 663-6118 · Orange County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL428 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 97% of California public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- BThree-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
22.5:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.2:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
72%
309 students
DISTRICT 79% · 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 | 82 | 19% |
| Grade 1 | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 55 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 54 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 67 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 6 | 58 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (82) is 41% larger than its 6th grade class (58).
Student demographics
56%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
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
72.3%
CA avg 49.1% . +16.3pp since 2014
Math
69.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +19.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 72 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 69 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 16 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 19 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 50.2% | 22.1% | 14.6% | 13.2% |
| Math | 41.9% | 27.4% | 18.1% | 12.6% |
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 | 72.3% | 69.3% |
| 2023-24 | 74.2% | 67.1% |
| 2022-23 | 75.7% | 68.7% |
| 2021-22 | 70.4% | 63.4% |
| 2018-19 | 68.7% | 65.7% |
| 2017-18 | 68.8% | 64.5% |
| 2016-17 | 68.6% | 62.9% |
| 2015-16 | 70.0% | 64.0% |
| 2014-15 | 56.0% | 50.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
71.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+33.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 37% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 34 points, placing it in California's top 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 Paine Elementary
Thomas Paine Elementary's state test result (71.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Paine Elementary this school | 428 | 72.2% | 71.0% |
| Encinita Elementary Rosemead | 418 | 73.9% | 43.4% |
| Emma W. Shuey Elementary Rosemead | 450 | 70.4% | 63.0% |
| Stanford Elementary Garden Grove | 488 | 73.4% | 57.7% |
| Morningside Elementary Garden Grove | 416 | 76.0% | 62.1% |
| Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Elementary Rosemead | 390 | 77.2% | 41.3% |
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 Paine Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Orange County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 71.0% | #613 of 5,151 | #95 of 381 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 69.3% | #628 of 5,172 ▲ 99 | #97 of 382 ▲ 11 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 72.3% | #637 of 5,172 ▼ 136 | #99 of 382 ▼ 22 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +3.9pp | #1,995 of 5,116 | #141 of 381 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 428 | #3,301 of 5,915 | #259 of 404 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.5:1 | #2,619 of 5,352 | #128 of 398 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.0% | #2,233 of 5,354 | #187 of 398 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 72.2% | #2,826 of 5,625 | #159 of 400 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.3% | #2,649 of 3,837 | #239 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
428
+3 (+1%) vs 2020
+30% since 1990-91, when it was 330
Student : Teacher
22.5:1
was 25.0:1
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 | 428 | 19 | 22.5:1 | 72% (309) |
| 2023-24 | 429 | 19.5 | 22.0:1 | 80% (342) |
| 2022-23 | 437 | 21.5 | 20.3:1 | 75% (326) |
| 2020-21 | 425 | 17 | 25.0:1 | 64% (271) |
| 2017-18 | 477 | 18.8 | 25.4:1 | 69% (328) |
| 2015-16 | 486 | 19 | 25.6:1 | 67% (324) |
| 2010-11 | 518 | N/A | N/A | 70% (363) |
| 2000-01 | 583 | 25 | 23.3:1 | 58% (338) |
| 1990-91 | 330 | 17 | 19.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas Paine Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (477 to 428); teachers up 1% (18.8 to 19).
About Thomas Paine Elementary
Thomas Paine Elementary is an elementary school in Garden Grove, California, and it is part of Garden Grove Unified. The school teaches kindergarten through 6 and enrolls 428 students.
Garden Grove Unified has 36,994 students in 64 schools, and Thomas Paine Elementary is one of those schools.
At Thomas Paine Elementary, 56% of students are Asian. It is also 35% Hispanic and 6% multiracial. For comparison, the population of Orange County is roughly 22% Asian. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Thomas Paine Elementary scores 56%.
There are 19 full-time-equivalent teachers at Thomas Paine Elementary, giving a ratio of 22.5:1. That is in line with the 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California. A total of 309 students, or 72%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The rate at public schools in Orange County averages 55%, lower than here.
On the allk12 Grade, Thomas Paine Elementary lands at A+, ahead of 97% of California public elementary schools.
Thomas Paine Elementary posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 71.0%. Schools with its free or reduced-price lunch share in California are predicted to post 37.2%, so the school is 33.7 points ahead and in the state's top 10%.
The county, Orange County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to about $116,289, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 44% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. The county's public schools total 649, with about 430,458 students.
Among nearby public schools, La Quinta High is closest at about 0.3 miles. Thomas Paine Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Thomas Paine Elementary comes in 3rd of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Large. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 425 to 428, a small change. Students per teacher dropped from 25.0 in 2020-21 to 22.5 in 2024-25.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Garden Grove Unified
- Garden Grove HighHigh · 2,148 students
- La Quinta HighHigh · 2,041 students
- Bolsa Grande HighHigh · 1,701 students
- Santiago HighHigh · 1,664 students
- Pacifica HighHigh · 1,634 students
- Rancho Alamitos HighHigh · 1,439 students
Other schools in Garden Grove
- Garden Grove HighHigh · 2,148 students
- Bolsa Grande HighHigh · 1,701 students
- Santiago HighHigh · 1,664 students
- Pacifica HighHigh · 1,634 students
- Rancho Alamitos HighHigh · 1,439 students
- Patton ElementaryElementary · 904 students
Other Thomas Paine Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Thomas Paine Elementary. Thomas Paine Elementary is the largest of the 3.
- Thomas Paine Elementary SchoolCHERRY HILL, NJ · 342 students
- Thomas Paine Elementary SchoolUrbana, IL · 324 students
Nearby schools
- La Quinta High0.3 mi · 2,041
- Susan B. Anthony Elementary0.6 mi · 332
- Sarah McGarvin Intermediate0.9 mi · 717
- Stephen R. Fitz Intermediate0.9 mi · 534
- Heritage Elementary1.0 mi · 376
- James Monroe Elementary1.0 mi · 555
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas Paine ElementaryHow large is Thomas Paine Elementary?
Thomas Paine Elementary enrolls approximately 428 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Thomas Paine Elementary serve?
Thomas Paine Elementary serves grades KG-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Thomas Paine Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Thomas Paine Elementary is approximately 22.5:1 (19 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Thomas Paine Elementary?
At Thomas Paine Elementary, the student body is approximately 2% White, 35% Hispanic, 1% Black, 56% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Thomas Paine Elementary?
Thomas Paine Elementary is overseen by Garden Grove Unified in Orange County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.