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What's the biggest difference between Virginia Peterson Elementary and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
461
Elementary
DISTRICT 444 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PASO ROBLES JOINT UNIFIED·NCES 060004807410
Virginia Peterson Elementary
2501 Beechwood Dr., Paso Robles, CA 93446 · (805) 769-1250 · San Luis Obispo County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL461 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 37% 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.
- CBeats 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
22.6:1
20 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 25.0:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
70%
324 students
DISTRICT 66% · STATE 65%
Community
5
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 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 56 | 12% |
| Grade 2 | 62 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 56 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 70 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 68 | 15% |
| Grade 8 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 9 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 12 | 1 | 0% |
Student demographics
53%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
Virginia Peterson Elementary→Lewis Flamson Junior High
Based on grade levels within Paso Robles Joint Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
38.6%
CA avg 49.1% . +9.6pp since 2014
Math
31.8%
CA avg 37.7% . +3.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 39 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 10 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 | 13.2% | 25.4% | 25.9% | 35.5% |
| Math | 11.0% | 20.8% | 28.0% | 40.3% |
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 | 38.6% | 31.8% |
| 2023-24 | 37.5% | 25.0% |
| 2022-23 | 36.9% | 32.5% |
| 2021-22 | 31.1% | 27.2% |
| 2018-19 | 37.3% | 38.1% |
| 2017-18 | 32.2% | 30.2% |
| 2016-17 | 40.4% | 28.6% |
| 2015-16 | 37.0% | 30.0% |
| 2014-15 | 29.0% | 28.0% |
% 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
33.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.4%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 34% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% 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 Virginia Peterson Elementary
Virginia Peterson Elementary's state test result (33.7% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Peterson Elementary this school | 461 | 70.3% | 33.7% |
| Lincoln Elementary Kingsburg | 442 | 70.1% | 62.7% |
| Donald Graham Elementary Wildomar | 470 | 69.8% | 41.9% |
| Portola Elementary Ventura | 444 | 70.3% | 55.0% |
| Killybrooke Elementary Costa Mesa | 473 | 71.0% | 57.6% |
| First Street Elementary Lincoln | 381 | 69.8% | 50.6% |
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 Virginia Peterson Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Luis Obispo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.7% | #3,098 of 5,151 | #29 of 37 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.8% | #3,040 of 5,172 ▲ 580 | #28 of 37 ▲ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 38.6% | #3,081 of 5,172 ▼ 116 | #27 of 37 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.0pp | #1,358 of 5,116 | #9 of 37 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 461 | #2,889 of 5,915 | #13 of 45 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.6:1 | #2,642 of 5,352 | #20 of 37 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.7% | #2,546 of 5,354 | #20 of 37 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 70.3% | #2,942 of 5,625 | #10 of 40 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.8% | #770 of 1,139 | #12 of 17 |
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
461
+78 (+20%) vs 2020
-20% since 2000-01, when it was 576
Student : Teacher
22.6:1
was 23.9:1
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 | 461 | 20.4 | 22.6:1 | 70% (324) |
| 2023-24 | 396 | 18 | 22.0:1 | 68% (268) |
| 2022-23 | 372 | 18 | 20.7:1 | 67% (251) |
| 2020-21 | 383 | 16 | 23.9:1 | 61% (233) |
| 2017-18 | 440 | 18.5 | 23.8:1 | 69% (303) |
| 2015-16 | 467 | 20 | 23.4:1 | 72% (338) |
| 2010-11 | 503 | N/A | N/A | 65% (326) |
| 2000-01 | 576 | 29 | 19.9:1 | 39% (226) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Virginia Peterson Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (440 to 461); teachers up 10% (18.5 to 20.4).
About Virginia Peterson Elementary
The public elementary school Virginia Peterson Elementary is located in Paso Robles, California. The school has 461 students in 2024-25 across kindergarten through 6.
Virginia Peterson Elementary is run by Paso Robles Joint Unified, whose 12 schools enroll 6,902 students.
More than half of enrollment at Virginia Peterson Elementary is Hispanic: 63%. Other groups include 26% White, 6% multiracial, and 2% Black. The county population is about 25% Hispanic. The diversity index for Virginia Peterson Elementary is 53%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Teacher count: 20.4 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 22.6:1. The average for elementary schools in California is about 22.3:1. Roughly 70% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Across public schools in San Luis Obispo County, the average is 54%.
Virginia Peterson Elementary earns a C+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 37% of California public elementary schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 38.4% for Virginia Peterson Elementary. The school posts 33.7%, 4.7 points below the prediction.
In San Luis Obispo County, the median household earns about $97,446 a year, about 40% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. San Luis Obispo County has 83 public schools with about 33,339 students, including Virginia Peterson Elementary.
Almond Acres Charter Academy is about 1.2 miles from Virginia Peterson Elementary, the shortest distance to any other public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. By average proficiency, Virginia Peterson Elementary is 4th among 6 schools close by.
For locale, NCES codes Virginia Peterson Elementary as City: Small.
The school grew from 383 students in 2020-21 to 461 in 2024-25. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (22.6:1) than in 2020-21 (23.9:1).
On allk12, people connected to Virginia Peterson Elementary can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Members of the school community can share what they know.
San Luis Obispo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
281,555
Census ACS
Median income
$97,446
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
33,339 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Paso Robles Joint Unified
- Paso Robles HighHigh · 1,986 students
- Lewis Flamson Junior HighMiddle · 884 students
- Georgia Brown Dual Immersion Magnet ElementaryElementary · 682 students
- Daniel Lewis MiddleMiddle · 619 students
- Kermit King ElementaryElementary · 507 students
- Winifred Pifer ElementaryElementary · 492 students
Other schools in Paso Robles
- Paso Robles HighHigh · 1,986 students
- Lewis Flamson Junior HighMiddle · 884 students
- Georgia Brown Dual Immersion Magnet ElementaryElementary · 682 students
- Daniel Lewis MiddleMiddle · 619 students
- Kermit King ElementaryElementary · 507 students
- Winifred Pifer ElementaryElementary · 492 students
Nearby schools
- Almond Acres Charter Academy1.2 mi · 478
- Pat Butler Elementary1.2 mi · 472
- Winifred Pifer Elementary1.3 mi · 492
- Liberty High (Continuation)1.3 mi · 171
- Independence High1.4 mi · 137
- Paso Robles High1.4 mi · 1,986
Frequently asked questions
About Virginia Peterson ElementaryHow many students attend Virginia Peterson Elementary?
Virginia Peterson Elementary enrolls approximately 461 students in grades KG-06.
Is Virginia Peterson Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Virginia Peterson Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Virginia Peterson Elementary have?
Virginia Peterson Elementary employs 20 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 22.6:1.
How diverse is Virginia Peterson Elementary?
Virginia Peterson Elementary reports a student body of 26% White, 63% Hispanic, 2% Black, 2% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Virginia Peterson Elementary in?
Virginia Peterson Elementary is part of Paso Robles Joint Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.