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What do students at Ward (E. W.) Elementary actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
543
Elementary
DISTRICT 710 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DOWNEY UNIFIED·NCES 061146001277
Ward (E. W.) Elementary
8851 East Adoree St., Downey, CA 90242 · (562) 904-3591 · Los Angeles County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL543 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
22.6:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.3:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
474 students
DISTRICT 78% · 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 | 132 | 24% |
| Grade 1 | 63 | 12% |
| Grade 2 | 76 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 85 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 101 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (132) is 53% larger than its 5th grade class (86).
Student demographics
23%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 21% · 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
47.6%
CA avg 49.1% . -0.4pp since 2014
Math
37.5%
CA avg 37.7% . -15.5pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 38 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 15 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 23.2% | 24.3% | 19.9% | 32.6% |
| Math | 17.8% | 19.7% | 27.5% | 34.9% |
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 | 47.6% | 37.5% |
| 2023-24 | 39.9% | 33.8% |
| 2022-23 | 39.1% | 28.1% |
| 2021-22 | 34.6% | 21.6% |
| 2018-19 | 63.5% | 61.7% |
| 2017-18 | 63.2% | 65.3% |
| 2016-17 | 40.6% | 36.9% |
| 2015-16 | 35.0% | 44.0% |
| 2014-15 | 48.0% | 53.0% |
% 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
39.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
28.4%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 28% 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 Ward (E. W.) Elementary
Ward (E. W.) Elementary's state test result (39.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ward (E. W.) Elementary this school | 543 | 87.3% | 39.7% |
| Roseland Creek Elementary Santa Rosa | 534 | 87.5% | 24.9% |
| Mitchell Elementary Atwater | 528 | 86.0% | 42.8% |
| La Canada Elementary Lompoc | 541 | 87.2% | 20.9% |
| Juniper Elementary Escondido | 588 | 87.1% | 29.8% |
| Elkhorn Village Elementary West Sacramento | 557 | 85.6% | 27.0% |
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 Ward (E. W.) Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Los Angeles County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 39.7% | #2,520 of 5,151 | #614 of 1,126 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 37.5% | #2,481 of 5,172 ▲ 215 | #621 of 1,129 ▲ 42 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 47.6% | #2,229 of 5,172 ▲ 516 | #522 of 1,129 ▲ 123 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +14.5pp | #198 of 5,116 | #84 of 1,116 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 543 | #1,943 of 5,915 | #388 of 1,300 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.6:1 | #2,700 of 5,352 | #701 of 1,213 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 22.9% | #4,273 of 5,354 | #818 of 1,214 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.3% | #1,430 of 5,625 | #544 of 1,276 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +30.5% | #129 of 1,139 | #23 of 181 |
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
543
-79 (-13%) vs 2020
-9% since 1990-91, when it was 598
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 | 543 | 24 | 22.6:1 | 87% (474) |
| 2023-24 | 625 | 25 | 25.0:1 | 80% (500) |
| 2022-23 | 576 | 23 | 25.0:1 | 81% (465) |
| 2020-21 | 622 | 26 | 23.9:1 | 74% (459) |
| 2017-18 | 416 | 18 | 23.1:1 | 82% (342) |
| 2015-16 | 452 | 18 | 25.1:1 | 79% (358) |
| 2010-11 | 480 | N/A | N/A | 75% (361) |
| 2000-01 | 483 | 26 | 18.6:1 | 79% (383) |
| 1990-91 | 598 | 24 | 24.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ward (E. W.) Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 31% (416 to 543); teachers up 33% (18 to 24).
About Ward (E. W.) Elementary
Ward (E. W.) Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school serving families in Downey, California. The school offers kindergarten through 5 and enrolls 543 students.
Downey Unified enrolls 22,405 students, and its 21 schools include Ward (E. W.) Elementary.
A large majority of enrollment at Ward (E. W.) Elementary is Hispanic, at 87%. It is also 6% White and 3% Asian. Los Angeles County's residents are about 48% Hispanic, 39 points below the school's share. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Ward (E. W.) Elementary scores 23%.
Teacher count: 24 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 22.6:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in California is similar, at 22.3:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 87%. The average for public schools in Los Angeles County is 70%.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 28.4% at Ward (E. W.) Elementary; the school's average proficiency rate across its state test results is 39.7%.
Los Angeles County is the school's county. There, median household income comes to about $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Los Angeles County's 2,244 public schools enroll about 1,265,907 students and include Ward (E. W.) Elementary.
About 0.4 miles separate Ward (E. W.) Elementary from the closest public school, Sussman (Edward A.) Middle. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Nearby schools average 40.6% on proficiency, and Ward (E. W.) Elementary is below that at 39.7%.
Its location is classified as Suburb: Large by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Enrollment decreased 13% over 4 years, reaching 543 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 23.9:1 to 22.6:1.
This page is set up for the Ward (E. W.) Elementary community to discuss open houses, carpools, and field trips. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Los Angeles County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
9,808,667
Census ACS
Median income
$90,112
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
2,244
1,265,907 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Downey Unified
- Downey HighHigh · 4,051 students
- Warren (Earl) HighHigh · 3,609 students
- Stauffer (Mary R.) MiddleMiddle · 1,329 students
- Doty (Wendy Lopour) MiddleMiddle · 1,304 students
- Griffiths (Gordon) MiddleMiddle · 1,264 students
- Sussman (Edward A.) MiddleMiddle · 1,240 students
Other schools in Downey
- Downey HighHigh · 4,051 students
- Warren (Earl) HighHigh · 3,609 students
- Stauffer (Mary R.) MiddleMiddle · 1,329 students
- Doty (Wendy Lopour) MiddleMiddle · 1,304 students
- Griffiths (Gordon) MiddleMiddle · 1,264 students
- Sussman (Edward A.) MiddleMiddle · 1,240 students
Nearby schools
- Sussman (Edward A.) Middle0.4 mi · 1,240
- Carpenter (C. C.) Elementary0.6 mi · 796
- Imperial Elementary0.7 mi · 653
- Alameda Elementary0.8 mi · 744
- Theodore Roosevelt0.9 mi · 491
- Lewis (Ed C.) Elementary1.0 mi · 810
Frequently asked questions
About Ward (E. W.) ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Ward (E. W.) Elementary?
Ward (E. W.) Elementary enrolls approximately 543 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Ward (E. W.) Elementary serve?
Ward (E. W.) Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Ward (E. W.) Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Ward (E. W.) Elementary is approximately 22.6:1 (24 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Ward (E. W.) Elementary?
At Ward (E. W.) Elementary, the student body is approximately 6% White, 87% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is Ward (E. W.) Elementary in?
Ward (E. W.) Elementary is part of Downey Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.