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How has Wood Canyon Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
425
Elementary
DISTRICT 480 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CAPISTRANO UNIFIED·NCES 060744003389
Wood Canyon Elementary
23431 Knollwood, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 · (949) 448-0012 · Orange County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL425 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 77% of California public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- AThree-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
22.4:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.7:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
238 students
DISTRICT 37% · 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 | 83 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 59 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 75 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 75 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (83) is 11% larger than its 5th grade class (75).
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
60.4%
CA avg 49.1% . +1.4pp since 2014
Math
50.7%
CA avg 37.7% . +6.7pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 1 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 7 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 27.2% | 33.2% | 20.3% | 19.4% |
| Math | 24.0% | 26.7% | 28.6% | 20.7% |
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 | 60.4% | 50.7% |
| 2023-24 | 49.2% | 48.3% |
| 2022-23 | 53.7% | 48.6% |
| 2021-22 | 51.1% | 40.2% |
| 2018-19 | 55.1% | 43.4% |
| 2017-18 | 56.0% | 38.7% |
| 2016-17 | 45.5% | 41.2% |
| 2015-16 | 62.0% | 45.0% |
| 2014-15 | 59.0% | 44.0% |
% 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
52.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.7%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 52% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 47% 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 Wood Canyon Elementary
Wood Canyon Elementary's state test result (52.1% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood Canyon Elementary this school | 425 | 56.0% | 52.1% |
| Mountain View Elementary Simi Valley | 401 | 55.1% | 37.7% |
| Sierra House Elementary South Lake Tahoe | 418 | 58.9% | 49.4% |
| Del Cerro Elementary Mission Viejo | 390 | 53.1% | 61.4% |
| Manzanita Elementary Charter Santa Rosa | 369 | 54.2% | 31.8% |
| Hawthorne Elementary San Luis Obispo | 437 | 53.5% | 56.8% |
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 Wood Canyon Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Orange County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 52.1% | #1,584 of 5,151 | #201 of 381 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 50.7% | #1,541 of 5,172 ▲ 82 | #194 of 382 ▲ 13 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.4% | #1,296 of 5,172 ▲ 658 | #167 of 382 ▲ 58 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +9.9pp | #624 of 5,116 | #32 of 381 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 425 | #3,348 of 5,915 | #265 of 404 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.4:1 | #2,498 of 5,352 | #115 of 398 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.2% | #851 of 5,354 | #74 of 398 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.0% | #3,642 of 5,625 | #214 of 400 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.0% | #1,775 of 3,837 | #162 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
425
+26 (+7%) vs 2020
-50% since 2000-01, when it was 858
Student : Teacher
22.4:1
was 23.5:1
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 | 425 | 19 | 22.4:1 | 56% (238) |
| 2023-24 | 410 | 18 | 22.8:1 | 52% (212) |
| 2022-23 | 423 | 20 | 21.1:1 | 54% (227) |
| 2020-21 | 399 | 17 | 23.5:1 | 41% (164) |
| 2017-18 | 512 | 18 | 28.4:1 | 37% (189) |
| 2015-16 | 386 | 13 | 29.7:1 | 29% (113) |
| 2010-11 | 536 | N/A | N/A | 24% (128) |
| 2000-01 | 858 | 39 | 22.0:1 | 14% (119) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Wood Canyon Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (512 to 425); teachers up 5% (18 to 19).
About Wood Canyon Elementary
Located in Aliso Viejo, California, Wood Canyon Elementary is a medium-sized elementary school. The school's 425 students are in kindergarten through 5.
Capistrano Unified is the district for Wood Canyon Elementary. It has 58 schools and 40,251 students.
Enrollment at Wood Canyon Elementary is mixed, with Hispanic students the largest group at 39%. The school is also 37% White, 15% multiracial, and 8% Asian. The chance that two students picked at random at Wood Canyon Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 68%.
The school has about 22.4 students per teacher and 19 full-time-equivalent teachers. Elementary schools in California have a similar average ratio of 22.3:1. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 56%. Across public schools in Orange County, the average is about the same, 55%.
Wood Canyon Elementary is graded A- by allk12, scoring above 77% of California public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Wood Canyon Elementary is 5.3 points above the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 52.1% actual, 46.7% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in California.
Census estimates describe Orange County this way: median household income is about $116,289, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. The public schools of Orange County number 649 and enroll about 430,458.
Aliso Niguel High is located about 0.4 miles from Wood Canyon Elementary. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. On proficiency, Wood Canyon Elementary is behind the 71.6% nearby average, ranking 8th of 8.
Locale: Suburb: Large. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Wood Canyon Elementary saw enrollment rise 7% between 2020-21 and 2024-25. The school's ratio fell from 23.5:1 to 22.4:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
The Wood Canyon Elementary community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Capistrano Unified
- San Clemente HighHigh · 2,740 students
- San Juan Hills HighHigh · 2,641 students
- Aliso Niguel HighHigh · 2,563 students
- Tesoro HighHigh · 2,030 students
- Capistrano Valley HighHigh · 1,991 students
- Dana Hills HighHigh · 1,725 students
Other schools in Aliso Viejo
- Aliso Niguel HighHigh · 2,563 students
- Don Juan Avila MiddleMiddle · 863 students
- Aliso Viejo MiddleMiddle · 803 students
- Don Juan Avila ElementaryElementary · 672 students
- JourneyElementary · 617 students
- Oak Grove ElementaryElementary · 569 students
Nearby schools
- Aliso Niguel High0.4 mi · 2,563
- Laguna Niguel Elementary0.9 mi · 456
- Canyon Vista Elementary1.0 mi · 533
- Journey1.1 mi · 617
- Oak Grove Elementary1.7 mi · 569
- Moulton Elementary1.8 mi · 538
Frequently asked questions
About Wood Canyon ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Wood Canyon Elementary?
Wood Canyon Elementary enrolls approximately 425 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Wood Canyon Elementary serve?
Wood Canyon Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Wood Canyon Elementary?
Approximately 22.4:1 students per teacher at Wood Canyon Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Wood Canyon Elementary?
Student demographics at Wood Canyon Elementary are roughly 37% White, 39% Hispanic, 1% Black, 8% Asian, 15% Two or more.
Who oversees Wood Canyon Elementary?
Wood Canyon Elementary is overseen by Capistrano Unified in Orange County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.