The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 29% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bracher Elementary
Bracher Elementary sits on Chromite Drive in Santa Clara, a city that is far more than a tech company address list. The neighborhood around the school reflects the city's residential texture: older streets with established homes, close enough to the broader Silicon Valley employment corridor that families here often work at companies like Intel, Nvidia, or Applied Materials, all of which are headquartered nearby. Housing costs in this zip code are among the highest in the state, running many times the national median for both purchase and rent, and the affordability gap between carrying costs and local incomes is wide. Renters spend a very high share of income on housing by any benchmark. That context shapes who lives near Bracher and what families are navigating financially.
The school is a small-to-mid-sized elementary serving kindergarten through fifth grade within Santa Clara Unified. Enrollment is split across six grade levels with no dramatic concentration at any one point. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives Bracher a meaningfully economically mixed student body. Racially, the school is majority Hispanic, with a sizable Asian share, a white minority, and smaller Black and multiracial groups. Data on English learner rates and special education identifications were not reported in the materials available, so those dimensions remain gaps a parent would want to ask the school directly about.
State testing results are available for grades three through five on the California CAASPP assessments. In English language arts, proficiency is around the mid-forties across the school as a whole, with third graders running a bit higher and fourth and fifth graders somewhat lower. Math proficiency is weaker overall, roughly in the low-to-mid thirties school-wide, and it declines grade by grade from third through fifth, with fifth grade math notably lower than the other two tested grades. Fifth-grade science results on the CAST fall in a similar range to fifth-grade math. Compared to districts across Santa Clara County, Bracher's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of that set. Because only one year of data is reported here, trend direction cannot be assessed. Parents who want to understand whether these results have been improving, holding steady, or declining should ask the district and school directly for prior years.
Santa Clara Unified has made a district-wide change to its secondary math sequence, which, while it does not directly affect Bracher's elementary curriculum, shapes what students encounter as they move into middle and high school. Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, ninth graders start in Geometry rather than Algebra 1, and acceleration works through optional compaction points in eighth and tenth grade rather than through course-skipping. Families interested in advanced math pathways through the district would want to understand this structure and how elementary preparation connects to the optional eighth-grade compaction option. The district also opened a new high school on the former Agnews site, and an Ethnic Studies course will be required for graduation starting with the Class of 2027.
Santa Clara itself offers genuine civic infrastructure: Central Park holds a main library, an internationally recognized swim center, sports fields, tennis courts, and substantial green space. Caltrain and Amtrak service run through the Santa Clara Transit Center, which is also the planned terminus for the BART extension into Silicon Valley. Walkability is uneven across the city; some neighborhoods score well on foot, others are more car-dependent. The city has active development in several areas, though its downtown revitalization efforts have moved slowly since a planning document was adopted in late 2023.
No program offerings data was available for Bracher, and no discipline, attendance, or staffing information was provided in the materials, leaving those dimensions uncharacterized. A parent weighing this school would have a clearer picture after visiting and asking about instructional supports, how the school addresses the spread in math outcomes across grades, and what additional resources exist for both students who need extra support and those ready for more challenge.
See more original research from School Decision →