The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Meairs Elementary
Meairs Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in Garden Grove, a mostly residential Orange County city with deep Vietnamese and Korean communities. The school enrolls a small student body that is majority Asian and Hispanic, with a very high share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the neighborhood.
On state assessments in English language arts and math, Meairs sits in the bottom quartile relative to schools in Orange County districts. In ELA, fourth-grade proficiency is stronger than the other tested grades, while fifth-grade ELA proficiency is markedly higher, suggesting some improvement as students move through the upper elementary. Math proficiency is lower across all tested grades, with results in the high-30s percentagewise. Science testing, administered only in fifth grade, also sits below midpoint. These data come from the 2024-25 CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) and CAST (California Science Test), the state's most recent results.
Because only one year of testing data is available, a reader cannot see a trend or trajectory; that comparison would help clarify whether the school is moving and in what direction. The academic performance picture the data shows is that Meairs is working with students who arrive with substantial economic and language barriers, and the school's current results reflect that baseline. A parent interested in this school may want to ask directly what instructional priorities, support structures, or intervention programs are in place to address the proficiency gaps, particularly in math, and what progress the school has seen over time.
Garden Grove and the Westminster School District have made notable investments in bilingual pathways. The district now operates what is publicly reported as the nation's first preschool-through-12th-grade Vietnamese-English dual language immersion sequence, running from DeMille Elementary through Warner Middle School into Westminster High School, with continuous 50/50 bilingual instruction and the California Seal of Biliteracy as an outcome. Early-learning dual language options in Spanish and Vietnamese are also available in the district's infant, toddler, and preschool programs. Meairs itself is a regular, non-specialized elementary school, so a family would need to investigate whether bilingual immersion pathways feed into this school or whether they serve other schools in the district. The broader district context is one that values sustained language development and biliteracy as a college and career pathway.
The neighborhood around Meairs, in the Garden Grove ZIP code, carries moderate-to-high housing costs relative to national benchmarks, though below the state median. The area is densely residential and auto-oriented, with shopping and civic services distributed through commercial corridors. Public transit is provided by OCTA bus service, and an OC Streetcar line connecting Santa Ana and Garden Grove was in testing and expected to launch in early 2027. Downtown Garden Grove has a small historic core along Main Street with walkable shops and eateries, but the broader streetscape is suburban. The city has been absorbing new mixed-use residential infill under state housing mandates, with several apartment projects anticipated or under construction.
The demographic composition of Meairs reflects the city's cultural makeup: more than half the enrolled students are Hispanic, a substantial share are Asian, and Asian students alone form a plurality. This diversity is a baseline fact about the school's peer environment. Nearly all enrolled students are economically disadvantaged by the lunch-eligibility standard. The school enrolls roughly that size for its grade band, with the largest cohort in kindergarten and most upper grades running in the mid-60s to low-70s per grade.
Meairs has limited publicly available information about programs, staffing, or in-school support services beyond what state assessments capture. A parent considering the school should contact the school directly to understand its approach to literacy instruction, math intervention, classroom composition, and any specialized or enrichment offerings, as well as the school's attendance rate, parent involvement structures, and local school climate.
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