Cambridge Elementary, Orange CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cambridge Elementary

Cambridge Elementary is a kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school serving a population with urgent academic and economic needs. The school's state test results in mathematics and English language arts are low across all tested grades, with only a small portion of students meeting proficiency standards in either subject. In science, proficiency is similarly limited. These patterns hold consistently: no grade band shows strong testing performance.

The student body is economically disadvantaged. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting family incomes well below the threshold. The enrollment of roughly four hundred students is ethnically dominated by Hispanic students, with small numbers of White, Asian, and Black students. Students of two or more races make up a very small fraction. The student counts by grade are fairly balanced across the elementary span, with slightly smaller numbers in fifth grade.

As a school within Orange Unified, Cambridge operates in a district that has recently undergone significant governance and policy change. In November 2024 the board rescinded a parental-notification policy that had required staff to inform parents if a student requested a name or pronoun different from their birth-assigned sex. This rescission followed the recall of two conservative board members in March 2024 and marked a reversal of the prior board majority's approach to LGBTQ-related matters, including a ban on Pride flags and temporary book suspensions. For families for whom district governance and values alignment matter, the current board's direction reflects a departure from those earlier positions.

Cambridge sits in Orange, a mid-sized suburban city in central Orange County with a dense single-family residential character punctuated by a distinctive historic core called Old Towne Orange, centered on Plaza Park. The city blends preserved historic commercial architecture with larger contemporary medical and commercial districts. Most residents own their homes. The local economy is anchored by health care, particularly UCI Health Orange (the academic medical center) and related hospital systems, along with Chapman University. Housing values in the 92866 zip code are substantial, and rents are correspondingly high, though affordability stress across Orange County is pronounced. Growth in Orange is happening through infill and redevelopment, particularly in the Uptown district west of the freeway.

When positioned against other districts in Orange County on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, Cambridge Elementary falls in the bottom quartile. A parent weighing this school should recognize that the academic outcomes on state assessments are weak and would want to explore with the school what targeted support, intervention programs, and instructional approaches are in place to address reading and mathematics proficiency, particularly in the upper elementary grades. The data available here does not include information on attendance, discipline, special education rates, English learner percentages, staffing levels, or specific programs and electives the school offers, so a parent may want to look into those areas further with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 54% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 49%

School 9% · District 54% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 46% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 50% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 52% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 59% · ▼ 46 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 61% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 63% · ▼ 28 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 42% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

This schoolOrange 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.