The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in Science. The lowest is 27% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Andrew Jackson Elementary
Andrew Jackson Elementary serves the youngest learners in Santa Ana, operating as a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade. The school enrolls a relatively small cohort for its grade span, drawn from a neighborhood where the vast majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic reality of Santa Ana's working-class core. The student body is predominantly Latino, with a small presence of Asian and other backgrounds. Specific counts for English learners and students receiving special education services are not available in the school's public record.
State testing results show academic performance that falls well below proficiency benchmarks across the grade levels tested. In English language arts, third graders achieved proficiency at about one-fifth the standard, fourth graders at a smaller share still, and fifth graders at about half the state's proficiency benchmark. In math, the pattern is similar: third and fourth graders are well below benchmark, while fifth graders reach roughly a third of the proficiency target. Science proficiency for fifth graders, the only grade tested in this subject, sits below a third of the standard. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Orange County.
These results represent a single year of testing and carry no prior-year comparison, so trend information is not available. It is worth noting that standardized assessment gaps of this magnitude often reflect circumstances including language background, recent immigration, housing instability, or concentrated poverty in the catchment area. A parent may want to look into what the school offers in terms of English language support, intervention services, or additional academic programming that might address these performance patterns.
The neighborhood itself is dense and urban. Santa Ana is Orange County's county seat and its most densely built city, with a strong cultural character shaped by a large Mexican-American and Vietnamese population. The downtown area around Civic Center Plaza, government offices, and Fourth Street (Calle Cuatro) is the commercial and civic spine, with walkability, street-level retail, restaurants, and markets concentrated there. Andrew Jackson Elementary sits in one of the older residential neighborhoods of the city, where housing stock is modest and historic districts like Floral Park and French Park hold early-1900s homes. The city is in an active growth phase with substantial new housing and mixed-use development approved or under construction, though these projects tend to be downtown or in newer zones rather than in the older neighborhoods where the school serves families.
The local housing market remains expensive relative to household income in the area. Home values in the school's zip code run substantially above the state median, and monthly rental costs consume a significant share of working-family income. This backdrop underscores why so many of the school's students come from households meeting the free or reduced-price lunch threshold.
The parent district, Santa Ana Unified, has committed to a significant facilities bond approved by voters in late 2024, funding repair and modernization of aging schools over several years. This is a direct, lasting commitment that will shape school facility quality across the district. The district was an early leader in adopting ethnic studies as a graduation requirement and embedding it throughout K-12, though in 2025 it agreed to discontinue three contested high school ethnic studies courses following a lawsuit and begin rebuilding them with public input. For families of young learners at Andrew Jackson, this curriculum story is less immediate, but it signals the district's active engagement with curriculum questions and community input.
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