Mckinley Elementary, San Francisco CA

Original Research by School Decision on Mckinley Elementary

McKinley Elementary is a small neighborhood school in San Francisco serving kindergarten through fifth grade, located on 14th Street in the heart of the city. With an enrollment of around two hundred students, the school operates within the larger San Francisco Unified School District, whose buildings and resources are woven throughout the city's residential and commercial blocks rather than clustered on a campus.

The neighborhood where McKinley sits is a characteristic piece of San Francisco urban life: a mix of residential and commercial activity, walkable to transit, embedded in a densely organized street grid. The city itself is among the most walkable in the United States, and families in this area have direct access to Muni bus lines, streetcars, and light-rail routes, as well as to neighborhood parks and the city's extensive library system. San Francisco's growth in recent years has centered on housing development in southern and western areas, though downtown revitalization efforts continue. The housing market in the school's zip code reflects the city's high costs; rental and purchase prices are elevated relative to national and state benchmarks, and housing affordability depends heavily on household income.

Academically, McKinley's most recent state test results show modest proficiency across grade levels. In English language arts, the school's results range from about three-fifths proficiency in third grade to about three-quarters in fifth grade, with an overall average around two-thirds. In mathematics, performance is somewhat lower, ranging from about one-half to two-thirds proficiency depending on grade, for an overall average around three-fifths. In fifth-grade science, proficiency is around one-half. When placed against other districts in San Francisco County, McKinley's overall proficiency index falls in the top quartile, a positioning that reflects strength relative to its immediate peer set, though it also reflects the fact that state testing results are available only for a subset of grades and subjects.

The student population is diverse. Students are distributed across the ethnic and racial categories reported by the school, with the largest group being white students, followed by Hispanic and multiracial students, with smaller numbers of Asian and Black students. About three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade only, so state graduation data do not apply, and data on special education and English learner enrollments were not available.

McKinley is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet school. The school's website or other publicly available program descriptions were not located in the data reviewed, so details about curriculum emphasis, after-school offerings, or distinctive pedagogical approaches remain unclear. A parent may want to reach out directly to the school to learn more about its approach to instruction, enrichment opportunities, and community engagement.

For a family considering McKinley, the key factors are its small size, walkable urban location, and modest but above-median-for-county academic proficiency. The school draws from a neighborhood that is both transit-rich and expensive, and families should be prepared for the practical realities of urban school life, including high housing costs, reliance on public transportation or walking, and the daily rhythm of a dense city neighborhood. Proficiency results suggest room for growth in mathematics and science, which a parent may want to discuss directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 52% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 49% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 46% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 47% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 51% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 55% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 42% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

This schoolSan Francisco 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-income27%Higher-income72%45 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income43%Higher-income84%41 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income89%39 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income81%45 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income68%39 pp gap