The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cadman Elementary
Cadman Elementary sits in the Clairemont area of San Diego, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within San Diego Unified. It is a small school for its grade band, with the kindergarten cohort noticeably larger than the upper elementary grades, suggesting enrollment has been building in recent years. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a community with real economic pressure. The student body is racially mixed, with white students making up about half, Hispanic students the next largest group, and smaller shares of Asian and multiracial students. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in the data we reviewed, so families with those interests would want to ask the school directly.
On California's statewide assessments, Cadman lands above the midpoint among districts in San Diego County on an overall proficiency index, which is a meaningful position in a county with a wide range of schools from very low to very high performing. In reading and language arts, roughly half to three-fifths of tested students in grades three through five scored at or above proficient, with the strongest results appearing in fourth grade. Math results cluster at about the same level across grades three, four, and five. Science, tested only in fifth grade here, came in noticeably lower than either reading or math. Trend data was not available for comparison to prior years, so it is not possible from this data to say whether results are improving, stable, or declining. A parent wanting to understand movement over time would want to ask the school for that context.
As an elementary school serving only through fifth grade, Cadman has no graduation rate to report, and that metric does not apply here.
Housing near Cadman is expensive by almost any national standard, substantially above the California statewide median and well above the national median. Values in the immediate zip code have edged down slightly from a year ago, while rents have ticked upward. The gap between what a purchase costs monthly and what renting costs monthly is wide, which means renting remains the more accessible path for many families nearby, though rent-to-income ratios are themselves stretched. This is the broader San Diego housing reality, not something specific to this school's neighborhood, but it shapes who can realistically live in Cadman's attendance zone.
At the district level, San Diego Unified has made several changes worth knowing about. A standards-based grading overhaul for secondary schools, publicly reported as phased in beginning in the 2021-22 school year, shifts grades for grades six through twelve toward demonstrated mastery of academic standards, removes factors like late work from the academic grade, and adds a separate citizenship grade for habits and behavior. Cadman's K-5 students are not directly affected now, but families thinking ahead to middle and high school in the district should understand how that system works. The district also added ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2024, ahead of the statewide mandate. Voters approved a major school bond measure in November 2022 covering facility repairs, security, technology, and transitional kindergarten spaces, as well as affordable housing for district employees, funded through an extension of an existing property tax rate rather than a new increase. That represents a long-term infrastructure commitment across San Diego Unified.
Programs data for Cadman specifically was not available in the data we reviewed, so enrichment offerings, support services, and any specialty programming are details a parent would want to gather directly from the school.
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