Greendell, Palo Alto CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Greendell

Greendell is a kindergarten school in Palo Alto serving a small population of students. The school sits within Palo Alto Unified, a district that has undergone substantial recent change in how it approaches math instruction, most notably overhauling its middle school math program to remove early tracking and standardize sequencing across grades six through eight, and winning a court case that required new transparency in high school math placement. For a kindergarten school, these district-level shifts carry less direct weight than they might for older grades, but they signal the broader academic culture families will encounter as children move through the system.

Greendell's enrollment is very small. The student body is racially and ethnically mixed, with representation across white, Hispanic, multi-racial, and Black students. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the wider Palo Alto demographic of mixed income levels within a high-cost housing market.

State assessment data do not apply to Greendell because the school serves kindergarten only, and California assesses students beginning in grade three. This is not a gap in the school's performance; it is a feature of the grade band the school serves. Parents looking for test-score data on this school will not find it, because kindergarten is not assessed.

The broader Palo Alto context matters for families considering Greendell. The city itself is defined by Stanford University, high-tech employment, and an active downtown anchored on University Avenue with walkable retail and dining. The school district encompasses all of Palo Alto and parts of the Stanford campus. Housing in the area is expensive; median home values and rents are well above state and national benchmarks. The city is undergoing active planning for housing growth, with new zoning allowing residential development in commercial areas, particularly along El Camino Real and San Antonio Road in south Palo Alto, though downtown has seen little residential growth in recent years.

As a small, regular public school in an affluent district, Greendell offers kindergarten within a system known for academic intensity and parent engagement. The school's size and grade band mean it serves as an entry point into PAUSD. Families should view Greendell not in isolation but as the beginning of an educational pathway through a district where math curriculum and placement practices have drawn sustained scrutiny and change in recent years, signaling both educational ambition and ongoing community conversation about acceleration and equity in advanced coursework.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

<50%Cohort of 7 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

2,394 schools plotted. 142 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 81% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 83% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 81% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 378%

School 78% · District 77% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 82% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 84% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

This schoolPalo Alto 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.