Los Paseos Elementary, San Jose CA

Original Research by School Decision on Los Paseos Elementary

Los Paseos Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in San Jose as part of Morgan Hill Unified School District. The school sits in a suburban neighborhood within the Silicon Valley economic sphere, serving a diverse student body drawn from the area's mix of single-family residential, older established neighborhoods, and growing residential districts.

The student body reflects San Jose's diversity. A substantial share of the enrollment comes from Hispanic and Asian families. A solid portion of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The school draws students across the neighborhood's income spectrum, bringing together families at various economic stations.

On state assessments administered in 2024-25, Los Paseos shows a pattern of lower performance in both mathematics and English language arts. Math proficiency is particularly low across tested grades; proficiency in fifth grade is markedly lower than in third and fourth grades, which may signal a need to examine how the school supports students as math grows more abstract. English language arts results are uneven by grade: fourth grade shows much stronger performance than third, while fifth grade lands at a moderate level. Science proficiency at fifth grade sits below math. When looking at overall performance across tested subjects and grades, Los Paseos ranks below the midpoint relative to other schools in Santa Clara County. A parent may want to look into what academic supports and interventions the school offers for students who are not yet meeting grade-level standards, and what the school's plan is to strengthen both math and reading across grades.

The neighborhood itself is characteristic of suburban San Jose: car-oriented residential zones with tree-lined streets and single-family homes. The broader San Jose area mixes urban density near downtown, where civic anchors like the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library and Guadalupe River Park serve the city, with sprawling residential districts. Downtown San Jose is experiencing sustained growth, with new residential towers and Google's planned Downtown West campus reshaping the urban core; growth and change are visible citywide.

The district itself faces financial pressure. Morgan Hill Unified is managing the expiration of one-time pandemic relief funding and a structural budget deficit. The district has issued layoff notices and cut positions from its 2024-25 budget, affecting both teaching staff and support services. A facilities bond intended to fund renovations across the district's schools was defeated on a prior ballot, leaving deferred maintenance unfunded. The district is currently preparing to place a bond and parcel tax measure on the November 2026 ballot, a potential property-tax increase that will affect families in the area. These budget constraints mean families should understand that staffing and program offerings may shift as the district works through its fiscal challenges.

The housing market in the school's zip code reflects Silicon Valley's high costs. Home values are well above both the state and national average, making this a neighborhood with substantial housing expense. Median rent as a share of income is notably high, signaling the pressure on families seeking rental housing in the area.

For a family considering Los Paseos, the key question is how comfortable they are with a school whose current test performance is below the county median and who want a school with transparent plans to improve academic outcomes in the core subjects. The school serves a genuinely diverse community, and the suburban neighborhood itself is stable and established, but the district's budget constraints are real and may affect program depth and staffing in the years ahead.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 41% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 43% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 32% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 37% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 44% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 47% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 32% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolMorgan Hill 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-income23%Higher-income30%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income62%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income57%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income79%35 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income38%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income26%Higher-income46%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income7%Higher-income35%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income60%29 pp gap