Ceres Elementary, Whittier CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ceres Elementary

Ceres Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Whittier, a Southern California city built on healthcare, education, retail, and local business. The school sits within the East Whittier City Elementary district and draws from a residential community with strong identity and diversity, notably Latino in composition.

The school enrollment is stable and small for its grade band, with about equal numbers across most grades. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a lower-income student population. The student body is overwhelmingly Latino, with a small number of students from other backgrounds.

On state assessments administered in the most recent school year, Ceres shows mixed results. In English language arts across tested grades, proficiency hovers just above midpoint, ranging from near half of students in grade three to slightly above half in grade five. Math performance tracks slightly higher, with roughly half to just under six in ten students meeting proficiency across the tested grades. Science proficiency in grade five is notably lower, with only about one in three students proficient. When looking at the overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades combined, the school sits above the median among elementary schools across Los Angeles County districts, suggesting performance that is typical to somewhat stronger for its regional peer group.

The assessment data comes from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) for English and math, and the California Science Test (CAST) for science. Data prior to the current school year was not available, so the school's academic trajectory cannot be assessed from the evidence at hand.

A parent may want to look into the school's approach to science instruction further with the staff, given the notably lower proficiency in that subject. Information on English learner services, special education services, and school culture or specific academic programs was not available in the available data. Details on attendance, discipline, and staffing were also not retrieved. The school's website address was not provided, so direct outreach to the school would be necessary to learn about daily operations, specific offerings, or how families can connect.

The Whittier area itself offers parks, trails, and recreational facilities, with a local economy anchored by PIH Health, Whittier Hospital Medical Center, Whittier College, and the school districts themselves. Housing in the area is moderately priced relative to the national median, with a monthly mortgage on a median-priced home in the mid-four-thousands, and median rents in the mid-twenty-hundreds. For families already in the Whittier community or considering the area, Ceres represents a neighborhood public elementary school with proficiency results sitting above the county median, serving a predominantly Latino student population with substantial economic need.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 60% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 53% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 49% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 57% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 55%

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

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 62% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 38% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolEast Whittier City 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-income44%Higher-income67%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income58%Higher-income48%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income51%Higher-income83%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income49%Higher-income83%34 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income58%Higher-income48%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income72%28 pp gap