Foothill Ranch Elementary, Foothill Ranch CA

Original Research by School Decision on Foothill Ranch Elementary

Foothill Ranch Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in a large, well-established master-planned community on the eastern edge of Lake Forest in Orange County. The school sits in a suburban setting built largely in the 1990s, characterized by single-family homes with cohesive architecture, distributed parks linked by trails, and retail centers like the Foothill Ranch Towne Centre. The wider area anchors significant corporate employment, including the headquarters of Oakley and other major firms, alongside retail employment at shopping centers. Housing in the ZIP code is high-value; median home prices are substantially above state benchmarks, and rental costs are also elevated, reflecting the community's affluent profile.

The enrollment is moderately sized for an elementary school, drawing a diverse student body. About a third of the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a mixed-income population within an overall affluent area. The racial and ethnic composition is varied, with substantial shares of Asian, White, Hispanic, and multiracial students; smaller populations of Black and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students; and very few American Indian/Alaska Native students. No data on English learner or special education rates were available, so a parent may want to reach out to the school directly about those populations and any associated support.

Academic results in tested grades (three through six) are solid overall. In English language arts, proficiency is consistently strong across grades, with particularly high results in grade five. Math proficiency is slightly lower and more variable by grade; fourth and sixth grades show lower performance than third and fifth. Science results, measured only in grade five, fall below proficiency targets. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among schools in Orange County's district universe, a meaningful position.

The school is part of Saddleback Valley Unified, a TK-12 district that serves multiple communities across Orange County. The district has been navigating declining enrollment and facility pressures; it recently closed an under-enrolled elementary school at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and has indicated it is monitoring other under-enrolled campuses. A planned school facilities bond was defeated by district voters in 2020, meaning that deferred repairs and modernization at older campuses across the district have not been funded through new property-tax backing. Foothill Ranch Elementary, built in the early 1990s as part of the original community master plan, may be subject to any facility challenges or aging-campus issues affecting the broader district, though this school's enrollment appears stable. A parent should ask the school and district directly about any recent or planned facility work and the trajectory of enrollment and programming in this particular building.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 58% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 56% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 52% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 54% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 54% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 55% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 61% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 63% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 48% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

This schoolSaddleback Valley 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-income71%Higher-income77%6 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income77%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income78%Higher-income85%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income79%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income71%Higher-income73%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income52%Higher-income71%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income64%Higher-income75%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income58%Higher-income64%7 pp gap