Calavera Hills Elementary, Carlsbad CA

Original Research by School Decision on Calavera Hills Elementary

Calavera Hills Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Carlsbad, a mixed-use coastal city north of San Diego that combines historic downtown character with sprawling suburban residential development and significant biotech and golf-equipment industry clusters. The school sits within Carlsbad Unified School District, which in August 2024 enacted a district-wide cell phone restriction policy banning mobile devices entirely during the school day at the elementary level, a lasting change to daily classroom environment that reflects the district's broader strategic focus on student focus and belonging.

The school enrolls about students across its grade bands, with roughly a third qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student population is racially mixed, with substantial representation of Hispanic and white students, meaningful Asian representation, and smaller numbers of multiracial students; demographic data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available. The neighborhood housing market is expensive and fast-moving: median home values in the Carlsbad zip code are well above state and national benchmarks, with year-over-year appreciation notably outpacing the broader San Diego region. Rental costs are similarly steep. This is a community shaped by constrained housing supply, strong local employers, and ongoing growth management tensions as the state preempts local building caps.

On California's 2024-25 standardized assessments, Calavera Hills shows mixed proficiency. In English language arts across tested grades, the school's overall proficiency sits in the upper range. Third grade performs strongest in ELA, while fourth and fifth grades show considerably lower rates. Mathematics tells a steeper story: third grade maintains solid proficiency, but fourth and fifth grades drop substantially, with fifth grade notably below the third-grade level. Science proficiency in fifth grade, the only tested grade, is in the lower range. When these results are averaged across subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to the county's districts, a position that reflects strength in the lower grades and in ELA offsetting weaker middle-grade and science performance. Only one year of assessment data is available, so trajectory cannot yet be assessed.

The school is a regular public elementary with no charter or magnet status. It is part of Carlsbad Unified, a district of about average size that has adopted strategic emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging alongside technology and career-pathway initiatives, framing these as multi-year directions. A parent relocating to the area would encounter a school in a high-cost community with early-grade strength and evident challenges in upper elementary mathematics, situated in a district managing growth pressures and emphasizing a comprehensive approach to student belonging alongside academics.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 383%

School 83% · District 79% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 73% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 69% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 75% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 76% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 77% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 63% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

This schoolCarlsbad Unified, 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-income47%Higher-income95%48 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income79%42 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income51%Higher-income82%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income59%Higher-income95%36 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income72%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income69%32 pp gap