Manuel A. Salinas Creative Arts Elementary, San Bernardino CA

Original Research by School Decision on Manuel A. Salinas Creative Arts Elementary

Manuel A. Salinas Creative Arts Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in San Bernardino, a large, diverse city that contains downtown neighborhoods, mid-century residential districts, and university-area communities. The school is small, with an enrollment distributed fairly evenly across its grade levels. The overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and the school's student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller numbers of Black, Asian, and white students. Demographic data on English learners and students with disabilities was not available.

In the most recent state testing window, the school's proficiency rates were low across subjects and grades. In English Language Arts, the school reported proficiency ranging from a low in third grade to higher rates in fourth and fifth grade, though the overall average across all tested grades in ELA was well below proficient. In math, third-grade performance was somewhat higher than fourth and fifth grade, where results dropped. Science proficiency, tested only in fifth grade, was particularly low. These results place the school above the midpoint for overall proficiency when compared to other districts in San Bernardino County, though that context reflects the wider academic challenges across the county.

San Bernardino City Unified, the district serving this school, adopted Vision 2030 in April 2024, a strategic plan centered on high academic expectations, student and family involvement, health and wellness, equity, and safe learning environments through 2030. The district has built its high school model around Linked Learning career pathways, which integrate academics with career-technical education and work-based learning, and the district holds multiple Gold-certified pathways, a substantial commitment to college and career readiness. These initiatives suggest a district-wide direction that families entering the elementary grades would eventually experience in the system.

Salinas is positioned within San Bernardino as a neighborhood school. The city itself mixes residential areas, retail corridors, and institutional anchors including the Feldheym Library and the restored Santa Fe Depot, which serves as a cultural center and museum. Downtown development is underway, with retail and commercial growth in multiple districts and planned infill of residential buildings. Housing in the area is modest in value relative to statewide benchmarks, with rental costs somewhat stable. The neighborhood character supports family life with schools occupying significant land area and community spaces, though the school operates in an economically constrained community where the vast majority of families rely on free and reduced-price meal support.

A parent considering Salinas would encounter a small elementary school in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, within a district that has set clear expectations for improvement and built lasting structures for high school readiness. The school's academic results show room for growth, and a parent may want to look into further with the school what supports are in place for students not yet meeting grade-level standards, and how the school's stated creative arts focus is integrated with core academic instruction.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 31% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 23% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 19% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 31% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 32% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 34% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 18% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 2 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.