Orchard Elementary, San Jose CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Orchard Elementary

Orchard Elementary sits on Fox Lane in the Berryessa area of north San Jose, a part of the city that reads as solidly residential and suburban in character, well away from the downtown core and its entertainment corridors. The surrounding neighborhoods are lower-density and car-dependent, though San Jose's broader civic infrastructure, including the Guadalupe River Trail, light rail connections, and Diridon Station's regional transit hub, is accessible to families willing to venture toward the center. The city's largest employer, Cisco Systems, is nearby in Silicon Valley terms, and the tech-sector employment base is a defining feature of the regional economy. Housing costs in the zip code are strikingly high relative to both the state and national averages, with home values well above the California midpoint and rents carrying a rent-to-income burden that pushes well beyond what financial planners typically consider sustainable. Values have slipped modestly year-over-year.

The school is a single-campus K-8 district, meaning Orchard Elementary is in effect the entire Orchard School District. Enrollment places it in the mid-size range for a K-8 school. Roughly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects a genuinely mixed economic community. The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Asian, with smaller shares of students identifying as multiracial, white, and Black. IEP and English learner counts were not available in the data provided.

Academic results on the 2024-25 California state assessments are the area a parent will want to examine most carefully. Across tested grades in both English language arts and math, proficiency rates are low. In ELA, results range from the mid-twenties to the mid-fifties across grades three through eight, with the higher end appearing in the upper-middle grades and a noticeable dip in the early grades. Math proficiency is lower still, falling into the teens at eighth grade, while seventh grade shows a somewhat stronger result. Science proficiency at the two tested grades is also below mid-range. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Santa Clara County, based on the county comparison set. That is a concrete finding, and parents weighing the school's academic environment should ask the school directly about instructional approaches, supports for struggling students, and what has driven variation across grade levels and subjects.

What the data does not supply is any multi-year trend, because only one year of scores is in hand. Without a trend line, it is not possible to say whether these results represent a floor, a ceiling, or a school in motion in some direction.

On the capital side, district voters approved Measure GG, a school facilities improvement bond, in November 2024. As a general obligation bond, it is repaid through property taxes on parcels within district boundaries, which matters both to current homeowners and to anyone buying into the area. The publicly reported intent is facility upgrades at the school. The specific bond amount and tax rate per parcel were not available from the sources reviewed.

The K-8 structure means students who enter kindergarten stay on the same campus through eighth grade, which some families value for continuity and community cohesion and others weigh against the question of whether the single-campus environment provides enough academic variety across the full nine-year stretch. There is no high school graduation rate applicable here; the school does not serve those grades. Program offerings beyond the state assessment subjects were not available in the data provided.

For a family considering this part of San Jose, the school draws from a diverse, economically mixed community in a city defined by tech-sector employment and some of the most expensive housing in the state. The academic results as measured by state assessments are below the county midpoint and warrant a direct conversation with the school about student supports and any improvement trajectory the school can document.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 28%

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

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 25%

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

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

even with state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

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

Social studies

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 46%

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

This schoolOrchard 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-income21%Higher-income35%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income32%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income60%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income42%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income48%Higher-income67%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income58%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income27%Higher-income31%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income21%Higher-income40%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income21%Higher-income34%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income15%Higher-income22%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income45%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income5%Higher-income19%14 pp gap