Jefferson (thomas) Elementary, Anaheim CA

Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson (thomas) Elementary

Thomas Jefferson Elementary is a small school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in Anaheim, with an enrollment that skews heavily toward Hispanic students and a majority who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is economically vulnerable: close to four in five students live in households at or below the federal poverty line. This is a school in a working-class neighborhood where family income and housing stability are real pressures.

On state assessments, the school's results are below the midpoint for schools in Orange County. In English language arts, about half of all students across the grades tested scored proficient. Math proficiency is lower, around four in ten. Performance varies by grade: third graders showed the strongest results in both subjects, while fifth grade, particularly in math, struggles significantly. Science proficiency in fifth grade stands at roughly three in ten. These numbers reflect the needs that the school and its families are working with.

The Anaheim Elementary School District, which operates Thomas Jefferson, has made a deliberate, multi-year commitment to literacy instruction grounded in the Science of Reading. The district adopted Benchmark Advance/Adelante curriculum for English language arts and invested in sustained teacher training through programs like LETRS and Aspire. This is not a one-time initiative but a lasting change to how reading is taught across the district, and the district reports consecutive years of ELA test-score gains tied directly to this focus. For a family considering this school, that sustained attention to literacy instruction is worth noting, especially in a school where many students face economic barriers that can compound reading gaps.

Separately, the district operates dual-language immersion academies that teach bilingual literacy in Spanish and English from kindergarten through sixth grade as part of a districtwide e²STEAM-D model. Not all schools in the district house the full academy, so a parent would want to ask whether Thomas Jefferson offers that pathway or whether enrollment in a dual-language program would require assignment elsewhere.

The school sits in central Anaheim, a large, diverse city with no single dominant character. Residential neighborhoods in the surrounding area range from working-class to middle-income. Downtown Anaheim and nearby areas are walkable, though car dependency increases in the suburbs. The city is in the midst of major development around the Platinum Triangle (entertainment, housing, mixed-use) and has active growth in the Disneyland-resort area. Housing costs in the Anaheim area are moderate to high by California standards, though a parent may want to look further into affordability and what the local rental and purchase markets actually support for families earning around the median household income.

Data on the school's special education population, English learner counts, attendance, and discipline was not available, so a parent seeking a fuller picture of support services or peer environment would want to ask the school directly about those programs.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 30% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 26% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 18% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 19% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 28% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 30% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 31% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 32% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 20% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

This schoolAnaheim Elementary, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income57%Higher-income85%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income81%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income85%37 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income75%34 pp gap