Wallace R. Davis Elementary, Santa Ana CA

Original Research by School Decision on Wallace R. Davis Elementary

Wallace R. Davis Elementary is a small neighborhood school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Santa Ana, located in the county seat and urban core of Orange County. The school sits in a densely populated, gritty working city shaped by a large Mexican-American and Vietnamese population, with historic residential neighborhoods and significant industrial zones nearby.

The student body is nearly entirely Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school enrolls fewer than [a span] students, with the bulk in the younger grades of kindergarten and first grade. The enrollment is small and skews toward the early elementary.

Academic performance is weak across both English language arts and mathematics on state tests. In English language arts, overall proficiency sits well below the state median. Math performance is lower still, and declines significantly as grade levels progress, with fourth-grade students showing particularly low proficiency. Science proficiency, measured in fifth grade only, is also low. Against other schools within Orange County's 83 districts, Davis ranks in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. A parent may want to look into further what academic support, intervention programs, or instructional approaches the school is using to address these gaps and what the school's trajectory looks like over time.

Santa Ana Unified, the parent district, faces both opportunity and constraint. In November 2024 voters approved a substantial school facilities bond authorizing repair and modernization of aging schools, a direct commitment to infrastructure that would shape the school environment. That same year, the district settled a closely watched lawsuit over its ethnic studies curriculum and agreed to discontinue three high school courses, then rebuild them with public input. The district pioneered ethnic studies as a graduation requirement in 2020 but has since retreated from those specific offerings; families weighing the district's curriculum philosophy and its approach to ethnic and cultural education may want to understand the current direction and any remaining programs.

The city of Santa Ana itself is in active growth and redevelopment. Major housing and mixed-use projects are underway downtown and across the city, including large apartment complexes and a major 41-acre "urban village" development. Assessed property values have risen substantially in recent years. Home values in the area are moderate-to-high for Southern California, and rental costs as a share of income are significant. The city is car-dependent outside of downtown, where walkability is real. Government, healthcare, education, and manufacturing and logistics are the dominant sectors.

For a family considering Davis, the school offers a neighborhood presence in an authentically urban setting with strong cultural cohesion. The school's low academic performance, however, is a clear concern and would warrant deeper conversation with the school about how it is addressing proficiency, what support exists for students who are not yet meeting grade-level standards, and what the school sees as its path forward.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 26% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 25% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 22% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 20% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 25% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 31% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 34% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 30% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Science

Grade 524%

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

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolSanta Ana 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.