Elmhurst Elementary, Ventura CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Elmhurst Elementary

Elmhurst Elementary is a traditional public elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade on Elmhurst Street in Ventura, part of Ventura Unified School District. Its enrollment places it in a range typical for elementary schools of this grade span. The student body is majority Hispanic, with a substantial share identifying as white and smaller numbers of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which marks this as a school serving a predominantly lower-income community.

On the most recent California state assessments, proficiency rates across tested grades tell a clear story: math results are notably low at every grade level tested, and ELA results are similarly modest in third and fourth grade, though fifth-grade ELA comes in somewhat higher. Science results at fifth grade are also low. Across all tested subjects and grades combined, Elmhurst's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint among districts in Ventura County, based on the available comparison set for Ventura County districts. Parents who want to understand what is driving these numbers, and what the school is doing to address them, would be well served asking directly, since the data here reflects outcomes but not the instructional strategies or supports in place. Trend data covering multiple years was not available, so whether results have been improving, declining, or holding steady is a gap this profile cannot fill.

Civil rights and discipline data were not present in the source material, and information on specific program offerings, staffing levels, attendance rates, or chronic absenteeism was not provided. English learner counts and special education rates were also absent from the data.

The broader district picture matters here. Ventura Unified is publicly navigating declining enrollment and a structural budget deficit. A School Closures Advisory Committee is working toward a recommendation by late 2026, with possible campus consolidations as early as the 2027-28 school year. Families choosing a home near Elmhurst should weigh that context, since its continued operation in its current form is not guaranteed. A parcel tax renewal that had funded music, arts, technology, and mental health services narrowly failed in November 2024, which means locally controlled funding for those programs is no longer flowing. Separately, voters did approve a general obligation bond in 2022 to modernize aging facilities, which carries a lasting property tax obligation for all property owners in district boundaries. The district also shifted to an early-August start date beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

Ventura itself is a coastal city with a walkable historic downtown that has expanded its pedestrian promenade along several blocks of Main Street since 2020, a move the City Council voted to keep permanent in late 2025. Healthcare is the city's dominant private employer, and the county-level economy is anchored by the naval base at Point Mugu, county government, agriculture, and life sciences. Housing in the zip code is priced well above both the California statewide median and the national median, with rents also running high relative to typical household income, a combination that reflects the coastal Southern California market. The city is adding multifamily housing downtown under its Downtown Specific Plan, and new construction is active in East Ventura and the hillsides as well.

For a family evaluating Elmhurst, the honest picture is a school serving a high-need population in a district under real financial and enrollment pressure, with state assessment results that are currently low across most tested grades. What the data cannot show is what daily school life looks like, how teachers and staff support students, or what trajectory the school is on.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 43% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 45% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 34% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 42% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 44% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 33% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

This schoolVentura 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-income20%Higher-income53%33 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income21%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income86%49 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income35%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income19%Higher-income29%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income50%33 pp gap