Panama Elementary, Bakersfield CA

Original Research by School Decision on Panama Elementary

Panama Elementary sits in southwest Bakersfield in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. The school enrolls a diverse student body in which the majority come from Spanish-speaking households, with substantial portions of Asian and multiracial students as well. About four-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating high economic need in the catchment area.

Academic performance on California state assessments shows mixed results across grades and subjects. In English language arts, proficiency is stronger in the upper grades, with sixth graders performing considerably better than younger students. Math proficiency is weaker across the board, particularly in third and fifth grade, where fewer than one-third of students tested met the standard. Grade four is the strongest math cohort. Fifth-grade science proficiency sits below one-fourth of students. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among Kern County school districts, which suggests the school is performing above the median for its region, though the reader should recognize that this reflects the composition of county comparison schools and does not indicate high absolute performance.

Bakersfield itself is among California's fastest-growing large cities, anchored by a diverse economy centered on healthcare, agriculture, and energy. The city is largely car-dependent, though downtown offers walkable blocks with restored storefronts and civic amenities. The Kern River Parkway provides a long spine of trails and parks along the city's eastern edge. Residential growth is concentrated in new subdivisions to the north and in redevelopment projects downtown and in southeast Bakersfield, including commercial and retail centers on formerly vacant sites.

The Panama-Buena Vista Union district has recently passed a general obligation bond, Measure I, to fund repairs to aging infrastructure including roofs, electrical and plumbing systems, asbestos and lead removal, and new classroom construction to address overcrowding. This bond levies an ongoing annual property-tax cost on homeowners. The district is also opening a new school, Mountain View TK-8, for the 2025-26 school year, accompanied by attendance-boundary changes that will affect which school children in the area attend. Parents considering this school should confirm whether their address would be affected by these boundary shifts and inquire directly with the school about enrollment data for special populations such as English learners, since that enrollment information was not available in the data reviewed. A parent may also want to look into the school's specific strategies in mathematics, given the softness in proficiency across most grade levels.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 41% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 39% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 26% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 32% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 42% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 45%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 50% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 28%

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolPanama-Buena Vista Union, 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-income39%Higher-income42%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income42%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income38%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income59%Higher-income69%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income29%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income58%Higher-income42%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income33%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income39%5 pp gap