Palm Avenue Elementary, San Bernardino CA

Original Research by School Decision on Palm Avenue Elementary

Palm Avenue Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in San Bernardino, a large residential and commercial city in the Inland Empire. The school's enrollment sits around five hundred students, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of white, Asian, and Black students. The school sits in a neighborhood that mixes single-family homes with apartment complexes and higher-density rental housing.

On California's state assessments for 2024-25, Palm Avenue's proficiency rates vary considerably by grade and subject. In English language arts, performance ranges from the low forties at the fourth-grade level up to the high seventies in sixth grade, while the school averages in the mid-fifties across all tested grades. Math proficiency is lower: most grades cluster in the thirties and forties, though sixth-graders reach the mid-fifties. Science proficiency, assessed in fifth grade only, sits in the low thirties. Across all tested subjects and grades combined, Palm Avenue ranks in the top quartile among schools in San Bernardino County, a position that reflects the school's standing relative to others serving similar grade bands and settings within the county.

The pattern in these results suggests that early elementary reading skills are being built (third-grade ELA is solid), but math learning lags behind language arts, and this gap persists through the upper elementary grades. Sixth-grade performance improves noticeably in both subjects, which may reflect either student progress, curriculum shifts at that level, or the particular cohort of students in that grade. A parent may want to ask the school directly how it addresses the mathematics proficiency gap in grades four and five, and what changes or supports contribute to sixth-grade gains.

The school is part of San Bernardino City Unified, which has adopted Vision 2030: SBCUSD SHINES, a strategic plan emphasizing high academic expectations, equity, student wellness, and safe learning environments across all schools in the district through 2030. The district has also built its high school model around Linked Learning career pathways, blending college-preparatory academics with career-technical education and dual enrollment. While those pathways are most visible at the high school level, they reflect a district-wide commitment to college and career readiness that extends down through the elementary grades.

Missing from available data are the school's chronic absenteeism rate, special education enrollment, and English learner population, which would provide fuller context on student support needs. State testing data do not cover kindergarten and first grade, so the academic picture is limited to grades three through six. No information on staffing, class size, or specific program offerings was available beyond the grade configuration.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 347%

School 47% · District 31% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 23% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 19% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 24% · ▲ 31 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 31% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 32% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 34% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 38% · ▲ 35 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 18% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolSan Bernardino City 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-income53%Higher-income63%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income32%Higher-income72%41 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income51%Higher-income62%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income72%Higher-income75%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income58%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income50%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income39%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income56%Higher-income50%6 pp gap