Culverdale Elementary, Irvine CA

Original Research by School Decision on Culverdale Elementary

Culverdale Elementary is a regular public school in Irvine serving kindergarten through sixth grade, located in a master-planned community known for a strong economy and high standard of living. The school sits in a housing market where home values are substantially above state and national benchmarks, and rents reflect a similarly high cost of living. Major employers in the broader Irvine area include UC Irvine, Google, healthcare systems, aerospace and defense contractors, and a growing collection of technology companies, which shapes the economic profile of families in the school's attendance zone.

The school enrolls a moderate-sized student body that reflects Irvine's diversity. About a quarter of students are Hispanic and more than a third are Asian, with smaller shares of white, multiracial, and Black students. Roughly half of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that suggests economic mixing within the school's attendance area despite the broader community's affluence. Data on English learners and students receiving special education services was not available.

On California's standardized math and English language arts assessments, Culverdale's students show mixed results by grade. In math, third graders score highest relative to the school's other grades, while fourth and sixth graders score lower. In English language arts, the pattern is different: third graders and fourth graders are below the school's average, while fifth and sixth graders perform stronger, with sixth-graders posting notably higher results. Science proficiency data was available only for fifth grade. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint relative to other elementary schools in Orange County, suggesting solid but not exceptional academic performance in this county comparison group.

The school's data comes from a single year of testing, so trends across multiple years are not available to show whether proficiency is rising, holding steady, or declining. A parent may want to look into the school's assessment results over time with the district to understand whether current performance is part of a pattern or a single snapshot.

Irvine Unified has undertaken several significant changes that touch school operations and course requirements. Beginning in fall 2025, all high school students are required to complete ethnic studies as a graduation requirement, part of California's broader mandate. The district has also raised high school graduation credit requirements for students in the class of 2027 and beyond, a change that affects course-load planning for families whose children will reach high school. Additionally, the district is pursuing a boundary adjustment that would reassign younger students in certain Irvine neighborhoods to different high schools starting in 2028-29 to manage rapid enrollment growth. For elementary families, these changes are not immediate, but they shape the trajectory students will follow as they progress through the district.

Culverdale benefits from the district's ongoing Measure E bond-funded modernization program, which is systematically upgrading older schools across the district with new classrooms, science labs, and other facility improvements. This effort extends to Culverdale's cohort of schools, meaning families can expect that the school's physical plant will improve over time as funds are deployed.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 73% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 72% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 66% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 73% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 68% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 73% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 75% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 76% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 65% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

This schoolIrvine 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-income29%Higher-income60%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income61%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income49%Higher-income71%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income70%Higher-income70%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income54%Higher-income74%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income62%22 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income74%30 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income48%Higher-income58%10 pp gap