Beech Avenue Elementary, Fontana CA

Original Research by School Decision on Beech Avenue Elementary

Beech Avenue Elementary, located in Fontana, serves kindergarten through sixth grade and enrolls a moderate-sized student body drawn almost entirely from the surrounding residential neighborhood. The school sits within Fontana Unified, a district that in November 2024 won voter approval for a major school facilities bond intended to modernize classrooms, expand career and technical education pathways, upgrade STEAM labs, and repair aging infrastructure—a significant shift in capital investment that will affect property taxes but also signals a long-term commitment to campus improvements.

The student population here is economically disadvantaged and linguistically concentrated. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly Hispanic. Specific data on the share of English learners and students receiving special education services were not available, so a parent may want to look into those populations directly with the school. The overall enrollment is diverse by age within the elementary band, with moderately balanced grade-level cohorts across kindergarten through sixth grade.

On state assessments administered in 2024-25, Beech Avenue's proficiency rates fall well below typical benchmarks across both English language arts and mathematics. In third grade, where reading and math foundations are crucial, roughly half the students met proficiency in math and just under half in ELA. Performance drops noticeably in fourth and fifth grades: by fourth grade, math proficiency falls below half, and by fifth grade it dips further still. Sixth-grade results are among the weakest: roughly one in five students reached proficiency in math. Science proficiency, measured in fifth grade, was also low. The overall proficiency index places this school in the top quartile relative to other elementary schools in San Bernardino County—a reflection of how many schools in the county face similar academic pressures—but this should not be read as strength. These are plainly below-grade results, and parents should understand that students here are not meeting state standards at typical rates. Only one year of data is available, so trend analysis is not yet possible.

Fontana itself is a working-class, car-oriented suburban city of significant size in the Inland Empire, with a strong logistics and manufacturing base tied to its location on major freeways and rail. The housing market here is moderate in cost relative to much of coastal California, though like many Inland Empire communities it has seen recent modest appreciation and rental growth. The city has a young, family-heavy population and is undergoing gradual downtown revitalization efforts. The overall economic context is one of working families, many tied to warehousing, distribution, or industrial employment.

Beech Avenue is a regular public elementary school with no special magnet or charter designation, meaning it operates under standard district curriculum and staffing frameworks. The building opened as an ordinary neighborhood school and serves a defined walk zone. For families choosing an elementary school in this area, the key academic reality is that students are significantly below proficiency in core subjects, and the causes and supports available merit direct conversation with school leadership. The recent bond investment suggests district commitment to facility improvements, but that addresses infrastructure rather than instructional practice. A parent considering this school should understand the academic baseline clearly and inquire about intervention programs, reading support, and math remediation in place for the substantial share of students below grade level.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 35% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 29% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 22% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 24% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 35% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 34% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 39% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 36% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 22% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

This schoolFontana 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-income54%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income42%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income27%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income59%Higher-income46%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income50%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income9%12 pp gap