Portola Elementary, Ventura CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Portola Elementary

Portola Elementary is a neighborhood school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Ventura, sitting in the Eagle Street corridor. The school enrolls a small to mid-sized student body drawn largely from the immediate area.

The student population is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting moderate-to-low income households in the attendance zone. The school's racial and economic composition mirrors the broader Ventura area, where working families and Hispanic-heritage communities are a large part of the residential base.

In state testing for 2024-25, Portola's results are mixed. In English language arts across grades three through five, proficiency hovers around the mid-range, with grade four performing strongest and grades three and five weaker. Math shows a similar pattern: grade four achieves solid proficiency, while grade five falls notably lower, and grade three sits in the low-to-middle band. Science testing, administered only to grade five, shows proficiency below where the school sits in math and ELA, suggesting that science may be an area needing instructional attention. Overall, the school's proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the county's schools with reported data, a position that reflects the mix of students it serves and the instructional work the building is doing, though absolute proficiency rates indicate that building stronger academic performance remains a priority for the school.

The school sits within Ventura Unified School District, which is navigating significant structural changes. Voters approved a major bond in 2022 to modernize aging facilities, meaning Portola will likely see facility upgrades over time, funded by a property tax that affects all district property owners. More immediately relevant: a parcel tax that funded academic programs, arts, music, technology, and teacher retention narrowly failed in November 2024, so those locally controlled dollars are no longer available. The district is also experiencing declining enrollment and has launched a formal process to evaluate school closures as early as the 2027-28 school year. For families considering Portola, this signals that the district is under budget pressure and consolidations are possible, though no specific schools have been identified yet.

Ventura itself is experiencing a building boom, with new housing concentrated downtown in mixed-use and higher-density projects as part of the city's revitalization. Downtown is now highly walkable following the 2020 Main Street Moves conversion of five blocks to a pedestrian promenade, which the City Council voted to keep permanently in September 2025. Beyond Old Town, however, the city is car-dependent. Housing costs in the zip code are elevated relative to national norms, with affordability constrained and rents rising. Healthcare, particularly Community Memorial Hospital and its parent health system, is the largest private employer locally, alongside Naval Base Ventura County at the county level. The local economy also includes agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism.

A parent considering Portola should anticipate a neighborhood school with a diverse, working-class student body where the majority of students qualify for assistance. The school's test performance is respectable within its county peer group, though proficiency rates indicate there is still meaningful work to improve outcomes. The broader district context includes recent facility upgrades, loss of local parcel-tax funding that previously supported enrichment programs, and an enrollment decline that has triggered a closure evaluation process. The city is growing and walkable downtown but car-dependent elsewhere, and the housing market is expensive.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 43% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 45% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 34% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 42% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 44% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 48% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 33% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above 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-income43%Higher-income70%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income76%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income60%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income70%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income54%Higher-income88%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income68%40 pp gap