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How has Walnut Acres Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
689
Elementary
DISTRICT 480 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MT. DIABLO UNIFIED·NCES 062637003980
Walnut Acres Elementary
180 Cerezo Dr., Walnut Creek, CA 94598 · (925) 939-1333 · Contra Costa County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL689 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 97% of California public elementary schools
- A+Test 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.
- A-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
28.7:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 25.3:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
103 students
DISTRICT 56% · 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 | 137 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 98 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 104 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 119 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 95 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 136 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (137) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (136).
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
82.4%
CA avg 49.1% . +3.4pp since 2014
Math
79.7%
CA avg 37.7% . +3.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 82 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 80 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 | 51.9% | 30.6% | 12.1% | 5.5% |
| Math | 50.7% | 29.0% | 15.4% | 4.9% |
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 | 82.4% | 79.7% |
| 2023-24 | 78.6% | 76.8% |
| 2022-23 | 75.3% | 78.2% |
| 2021-22 | 75.3% | 72.3% |
| 2020-21 | 71.8% | 67.3% |
| 2018-19 | 79.4% | 68.1% |
| 2017-18 | 75.2% | 69.2% |
| 2016-17 | 78.9% | 70.1% |
| 2015-16 | 78.0% | 74.0% |
| 2014-15 | 79.0% | 76.0% |
% 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
79.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 80% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% 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 Walnut Acres Elementary
Walnut Acres Elementary's state test result (79.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Acres Elementary this school | 689 | 14.9% | 79.7% |
| Jerabek Elementary San Diego | 718 | 16.3% | 84.5% |
| Lincoln Elementary Redondo Beach | 626 | 16.9% | 74.2% |
| Riviera Elementary Torrance | 611 | 16.5% | 73.5% |
| Booksin Elementary San Jose | 715 | 11.9% | 74.6% |
| Quarry Trail Elementary Rocklin | 705 | 13.6% | 67.4% |
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 Walnut Acres Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Contra Costa County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 79.7% | #237 of 5,151 | #18 of 149 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 79.7% | #247 of 5,172 ▲ 103 | #22 of 153 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 82.4% | #179 of 5,172 ▲ 134 | #17 of 153 ▲ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +7.3pp | #1,061 of 5,116 | #15 of 150 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 689 | #821 of 5,915 | #15 of 164 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 28.7:1 | #5,281 of 5,352 | #153 of 162 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.6% | #671 of 5,354 | #50 of 162 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 14.9% | #5,313 of 5,625 | #123 of 158 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.0% | #450 of 1,139 | #15 of 42 |
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
689
+58 (+9%) vs 2020
-15% since 1990-91, when it was 808
Student : Teacher
28.7:1
was 23.4:1
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 | 689 | 24 | 28.7:1 | 15% (103) |
| 2023-24 | 678 | 21.5 | 31.5:1 | 8% (52) |
| 2022-23 | 638 | 21 | 30.4:1 | 7% (44) |
| 2020-21 | 631 | 27 | 23.4:1 | 5% (32) |
| 2017-18 | 615 | 26.6 | 23.1:1 | 7% (44) |
| 2015-16 | 617 | 24 | 25.7:1 | 6% (38) |
| 2010-11 | 622 | N/A | N/A | 3% (16) |
| 2000-01 | 688 | 28 | 24.6:1 | 1% (8) |
| 1990-91 | 808 | 26 | 31.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Walnut Acres Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 12% (615 to 689); teachers down 10% (26.6 to 24).
About Walnut Acres Elementary
Walnut Acres Elementary is a medium-sized elementary school in Walnut Creek, California. Enrollment is 689 students in 2024-25, and the school serves kindergarten through 5. Against the 465-student average for elementary schools in California, enrollment here is 48% higher.
Walnut Acres Elementary is part of Mt. Diablo Unified, where 50 schools serve 29,210 students.
The most common group at Walnut Acres Elementary is White students, at 45%. Other groups make up 21% multiracial, 17% Asian, and 15% Hispanic. Pick two students at random and there is a 70% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Its teaching staff equals 24 full-time positions, a ratio of 28.7:1. On average, elementary schools in California have 22.3:1, compared with 28.7:1 here. Around 15% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The average for public schools in Contra Costa County is 45%.
allk12 grades Walnut Acres Elementary an A+. The grade compares the school only with California public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
On BeatsExpectations, Walnut Acres Elementary is 8.9 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of California schools.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Contra Costa County show that the median household income is $127,229, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 45%, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Besides Walnut Acres Elementary, Contra Costa County has 279 other public schools.
Foothill Middle is the closest public school, about 0.3 miles away in a straight line. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The nearest schools with test data average 58.8%, lower than Walnut Acres Elementary's 79.7%.
The school is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, according to its NCES locale (City: Small).
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 58 more students in 2024-25. By 2024-25, the school had 28.7 students per teacher, compared with 23.4 in 2020-21.
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.
Contra Costa County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,165,012
Census ACS
Median income
$127,229
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
45%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
280
167,423 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mt. Diablo Unified
- College Park HighHigh · 1,948 students
- Northgate HighHigh · 1,546 students
- Mt. Diablo HighHigh · 1,397 students
- Concord HighHigh · 1,137 students
- Ygnacio Valley HighHigh · 1,059 students
- Foothill MiddleMiddle · 1,005 students
Other schools in Walnut Creek
- Las Lomas HighHigh · 1,577 students
- Northgate HighHigh · 1,546 students
- Foothill MiddleMiddle · 1,005 students
- Walnut Creek IntermediateMiddle · 940 students
- Bancroft ElementaryElementary · 672 students
- Buena Vista ElementaryElementary · 495 students
Nearby schools
- Foothill Middle0.3 mi · 1,005
- Eagle Peak Montessori0.7 mi · 301
- Contra Costa School of Performing Arts0.9 mi · 285
- Northgate High1.0 mi · 1,546
- Valle Verde Elementary1.1 mi · 485
- Ygnacio Valley High1.2 mi · 1,059
Frequently asked questions
About Walnut Acres ElementaryHow many students attend Walnut Acres Elementary?
Walnut Acres Elementary enrolls approximately 689 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Walnut Acres Elementary serve?
Walnut Acres Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Walnut Acres Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Walnut Acres Elementary is approximately 28.7:1 (24 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Walnut Acres Elementary?
At Walnut Acres Elementary, the student body is approximately 45% White, 15% Hispanic, 1% Black, 17% Asian, 21% Two or more.
Who oversees Walnut Acres Elementary?
Walnut Acres Elementary is overseen by Mt. Diablo Unified in Contra Costa County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.