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What advice would you give to incoming students at Whittier Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
454
Elementary
DISTRICT 405 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEWPORT-MESA UNIFIED·NCES 062724004132
Whittier Elementary
1800 Whittier Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92627 · (949) 515-6990 · Orange County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL454 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 28% 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.
- C+Beats 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
17.2:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.4:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
89%
406 students
DISTRICT 54% · 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 | 78 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 49 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 60 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 60 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 76 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 69 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (78) is 13% larger than its 6th grade class (69).
Student demographics
8%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
31.9%
CA avg 49.1% . +14.9pp since 2014
Math
24.9%
CA avg 37.7% . +7.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 32 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 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 15 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 5.8% | 26.1% | 30.0% | 38.1% |
| Math | 8.3% | 16.6% | 37.7% | 37.4% |
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 | 31.9% | 24.9% |
| 2023-24 | 26.7% | 22.4% |
| 2022-23 | 32.2% | 27.3% |
| 2021-22 | 30.3% | 22.9% |
| 2020-21 | N/A | 26.0% |
| 2018-19 | 40.3% | 26.2% |
| 2017-18 | 29.6% | 24.0% |
| 2016-17 | 23.0% | 15.1% |
| 2015-16 | 21.0% | 20.0% |
| 2014-15 | 17.0% | 17.0% |
% 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
26.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
27.1%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 27% 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 Whittier Elementary
Whittier Elementary's state test result (26.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whittier Elementary this school | 454 | 89.4% | 26.4% |
| Rio Plaza Elementary Oxnard | 455 | 88.4% | 16.1% |
| Tweedy Elementary South Gate | 471 | 90.2% | 35.6% |
| Frank Ledesma Elementary Soledad | 464 | 89.7% | 27.0% |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary El Centro | 445 | 90.1% | 31.9% |
| Miguel Hidalgo Elementary Brawley | 437 | 90.4% | 30.5% |
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 Whittier Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Orange County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 26.4% | #3,927 of 5,151 | #338 of 381 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 24.9% | #3,776 of 5,172 ▲ 137 | #327 of 382 ▲ 12 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 31.9% | #3,782 of 5,172 ▲ 368 | #324 of 382 ▲ 24 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.8pp | #2,724 of 5,116 | #201 of 381 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 454 | #2,989 of 5,915 | #229 of 404 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.2:1 | #155 of 5,352 | #11 of 398 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 7.7% | #5,069 of 5,354 | #369 of 398 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 89.4% | #1,165 of 5,625 | #56 of 400 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -32.7% | #395 of 3,837 | #46 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
454
+31 (+7%) vs 2020
-20% since 1990-91, when it was 569
Student : Teacher
17.2:1
was 21.1:1
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 | 454 | 26.4 | 17.2:1 | 89% (406) |
| 2023-24 | 457 | 27.5 | 16.6:1 | 91% (418) |
| 2022-23 | 476 | 24.4 | 19.5:1 | 91% (433) |
| 2020-21 | 423 | 20 | 21.1:1 | 91% (387) |
| 2017-18 | 675 | 27.5 | 24.6:1 | 89% (598) |
| 2015-16 | 718 | 27 | 26.6:1 | 94% (676) |
| 2010-11 | 799 | N/A | N/A | 95% (759) |
| 2000-01 | 585 | 38 | 15.4:1 | 23% (135) |
| 1990-91 | 569 | 26 | 21.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Whittier Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 33% (675 to 454); teachers down 4% (27.5 to 26.4).
About Whittier Elementary
Whittier Elementary is an elementary school in Costa Mesa, California, and it is part of Newport-Mesa Unified. The school teaches kindergarten through 6 and enrolls 454 students.
The district, Newport-Mesa Unified, operates 31 schools serving 17,540 students.
Roughly 96% of students at Whittier Elementary are Hispanic. County-wide, 34% of Orange County residents are Hispanic. The diversity index for Whittier Elementary is 8%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
With 26.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 17.2:1. Statewide, elementary schools in California average 22.3:1. Roughly 89% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Orange County average 55%.
On the allk12 Grade, Whittier Elementary lands at C, ahead of 28% of California public elementary schools.
Schools in California with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 27.1%. Whittier Elementary scores 26.4%.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Orange County show that median household income comes to about $116,289, roughly 44% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Orange County counts 649 public schools with about 430,458 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Victoria Elementary, is about 0.8 miles. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Whittier Elementary is 8th on average proficiency.
Federal records code the school's setting as City: Mid-size.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Whittier Elementary had a net gain of 31 students, or 7%. The number of students per teacher dropped from 21.1 to 17.2 over 4 years.
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 Newport-Mesa Unified
- Corona del Mar HighHigh · 2,106 students
- Newport Harbor HighHigh · 2,084 students
- Costa Mesa HighHigh · 1,730 students
- Estancia HighHigh · 976 students
- Horace Ensign IntermediateMiddle · 875 students
- Mariners ElementaryElementary · 573 students
Other schools in Costa Mesa
- Costa Mesa HighHigh · 1,730 students
- ACCESS County CommunityCombined · 1,315 students
- Estancia HighHigh · 976 students
- Maude B. Davis ElementaryElementary · 570 students
- Heinz Kaiser ElementaryElementary · 539 students
- Charles W. Tewinkle MiddleMiddle · 501 students
Other Whittier Elementary schools
34 other US public schools in 17 states are named Whittier Elementary. Whittier Elementary is the 10th largest of the 35.
- Whittier ElementaryHemet, CA · 816 students
- Whittier ElementaryLong Beach, CA · 526 students
- Whittier ElementaryFrederick, MD · 779 students
- WHITTIER ELEMENTARYKANSAS CITY, MO · 550 students
- Whittier ElemKansas City, KS · 502 students
Nearby schools
- Victoria Elementary0.8 mi · 301
- Pomona Elementary0.9 mi · 264
- Everett A. Rea Elementary1.1 mi · 344
- Wilson Elementary1.1 mi · 323
- Estancia High1.3 mi · 976
- John H. Eader Elementary1.5 mi · 416
Frequently asked questions
About Whittier ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Whittier Elementary?
Whittier Elementary enrolls approximately 454 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Whittier Elementary serve?
Whittier Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Whittier Elementary?
Approximately 17.2:1 students per teacher at Whittier Elementary.
How diverse is Whittier Elementary?
Whittier Elementary reports a student body of 2% White, 96% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Whittier Elementary?
Whittier Elementary is overseen by Newport-Mesa Unified in Orange County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.