Is Fern Drive Elementary a good school?

Fern Drive Elementary ranks 2312 th of 5862 California elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 3 stars out of 5.

How many students attend Fern Drive Elementary?

In the 2022-23 school year, 413 students attended Fern Drive Elementary.

What is the racial makeup of Fern Drive Elementary?

Students at Fern Drive Elementary are 49% Hispanic, 26% White, 13% Asian, 10% Two or more races, 1% American Indian.

What schools do graduates of Fern Drive Elementary attend?

Students who attend Fern Drive Elementary usually go on to attend: Middle : D. Russell Parks Junior High High : Sunny Hills High

Fern Drive Elementary

Summary:

Fern Drive Elementary is a public elementary school in Fullerton, California, serving 413 students in grades K-6. The school is part of the Fullerton Elementary District, which is ranked 498 out of 1,568 districts in the state.

Fern Drive Elementary faces several challenges compared to other schools in the area. The school's test scores are generally lower than the district and state averages across various grade levels and subjects. For example, in 2023-2024, the school's proficiency rates in English Language Arts/Literacy ranged from 27.66% to 58.18%, while the district's were 51.49% to 59.47% and the state's were 42.8% to 47.37%. Similarly, in Mathematics, Fern Drive's proficiency rates ranged from 27.66% to 57.14%, compared to the district's 46.3% to 56.65% and the state's 34.31% to 45.64%. The school also has a higher chronic absenteeism rate and a larger proportion of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds compared to the state average.

When compared to nearby high-performing schools, such as Laguna Road Elementary and Robert C. Fisler Elementary, Fern Drive Elementary's performance is significantly lower. However, the school does outperform some of the lower-performing nearby schools, such as Woodcrest Elementary, Pacific Drive Elementary, and Valencia Park Elementary. Additionally, the school's performance has shown a declining trend over the years, with its statewide ranking dropping from 1,181 out of 5,530 California elementary schools in 2012-2013 to 2,312 out of 5,862 schools in 2023-2024.

Detail:

Public K-6

1400 West Fern Dr.
Fullerton, CA 92833-2331

(714) 447-7710

District: Fullerton Elementary

SchoolDigger Rank:
2312^th of 5,862 California Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $5,418

Students who attend Fern Drive Elementary usually attend:

Middle:	D. Russell Parks Junior High
High:	Sunny Hills High

Student/teacher ratio: 25.4

Number of students: 413

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

48.7%

White:

25.9%

Asian:

13.3%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 55.2%

See top rated California elementary schools

Compare Fern Drive Elementary to nearby elementary schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Fern Drive Elementary ranks better than 60.6% of elementary schools in California. It also ranks 10^th among 17 ranked elementary schools in the Fullerton Elementary School District. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 54.54. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

Compare Details Student population at Fern Drive Elementary is diverse. Racial makeup is: Hispanic (48.7%), White (25.9%), Asian (13.3%). (See more...)

Compare Details 55.2% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)

Compare Details (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Fern Drive Elementary is 25.4, which is the 7^th best among 17 elementary schools in the Fullerton Elementary School District. (See more...)

Compare Fern Drive Elementary employs 16.2 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Fern Drive Elementary is $5,418. 10 elementary schools in the Fullerton Elementary School District spend more per student.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Fern Drive Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Fern Drive Elementary 2312^th of 5862 California public elementary schools. (See Fern Drive Elementary in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Hispanic students:

White students:

Fullerton Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Fullerton Elementary 498^th of 1568 California school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Parent Rating:

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Rank History for Fern Drive Elementary

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Rank History for all students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2004	67.07	1399^th	4809	70.9%
2005	74.82	1130^th	4822	76.6%
2006	77.06	1067^th	4818	77.9%
2007	75.40	1152^nd	5113	77.5%
2008	75.20	1178^th	5113	77.0%
2009	80.37	984^th	5193	81.1%
2010	79.63	1021^st	5314	80.8%
2011	79.99	1001^st	5377	81.4%
2012	72.84	1387^th	5390	74.3%
2013	77.62	1181^st	5530	78.6%
2015	57.41	2057^th	5611	63.3%
2016	58.91	2049^th	5614	63.5%
2017	47.75	2677^th	5692	53.0%
2018	63.77	1875^th	5662	66.9%
2019	62.44	1948^th	5789	66.3%
2022	63.59	1867^th	5883	68.3%
2023	63.48	1867^th	5874	68.2%
2024	54.54	2312^th	5862	60.6%

See the entire list of California Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2019	23.02	369^th	445	17.1%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	78.02	386^th	3246	88.1%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	50.44	2331^st	5084	54.2%
2019	59.63	1798^th	5173	65.2%
2022	60.32	1660^th	5264	68.5%
2023	67.01	1391^st	5374	74.1%
2024	64.23	1551^st	5511	71.9%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	68.55	1567^th	5413	71.1%
2019	67.93	1605^th	5492	70.8%
2022	54.03	2209^th	5635	60.8%
2023	62.00	1855^th	5617	67.0%
2024	54.04	2215^th	5605	60.5%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Disabled students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2022	26.77	1648^th	2227	26.0%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Disabled Students!

Rank History for Male students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	57.23	2061^st	5431	62.1%
2019	55.04	2200^th	5510	60.1%
2022	69.49	1556^th	5663	72.5%
2023	61.84	1865^th	5650	67.0%
2024	53.71	2274^th	5636	59.7%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Asian students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2018	35.95	804^th	1071	24.9%
2019	40.32	817^th	1149	28.9%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Asian Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	69.09	1180^th	4830	75.6%
2019	72.41	1044^th	4963	79.0%
2022	68.10	1242^nd	5084	75.6%
2023	62.98	1495^th	5098	70.7%
2024	60.62	1655^th	5102	67.6%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Fern Drive Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	44.20	1683^rd	2737	38.5%
2019	43.07	1759^th	2834	37.9%
2022	39.12	1763^rd	2726	35.3%
2023	41.34	1682^nd	2662	36.8%
2024	17.10	2281^st	2647	13.8%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: California Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: California Department of Education

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 5)

100%

Reviews:

by a parent
Saturday, December 9, 2017

We love Fern Drive. Dr Julie Brandon is an excellent leader- she is kind, approachable and has a lot of dynamic ideas that the kids seem to love. I understand that Fern has had a few bad reviews a while ago, and lower test scores, but I truly believe that Dr Bandon will turn this around. I am excited to see this progress unfold. My daughter loves her teacher, and generally loves going to school everyday! Close Quote

Enrollment information for Fern Drive Elementary

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1988	367	11	124	73	0	n/a	n/a	0	575
1989	348	11	167	60	0	n/a	n/a	0	586
1990	333	11	175	64	1	n/a	n/a	0	584
1991	367	12	176	59	1	n/a	n/a	0	615
1992	376	8	189	65	1	n/a	n/a	0	639
1993	372	4	202	61	0	n/a	n/a	0	639
1994	362	4	208	54	0	n/a	n/a	0	628
1995	310	10	226	59	0	n/a	n/a	0	605
1996	310	10	226	59	0	n/a	n/a	0	605
1997	319	6	218	76	2	n/a	n/a	0	621
1998	320	5	253	96	0	n/a	n/a	0	674
1999	337	4	258	86	2	n/a	n/a	0	687
2000	323	4	254	107	2	n/a	n/a	0	690
2001	326	7	251	112	2	n/a	n/a	0	698
2002	306	6	228	106	1	n/a	n/a	0	647
2003	306	6	228	106	1	n/a	n/a	0	647
2004	290	7	242	127	3	n/a	n/a	12	681
2005	255	8	163	127	2	n/a	n/a	23	578
2006	245	5	132	139	2	n/a	n/a	29	552
2007	226	5	135	130	2	n/a	n/a	36	534
2008	217	4	133	122	2	n/a	n/a	0	478
2009	210	3	118	125	2	4	68	0	530
2010	203	6	124	154	2	2	46	0	537
2011	204	5	130	181	1	2	43	0	566
2012	216	5	113	184	2	2	40	0	562
2013	209	6	108	222	3	2	35	0	585
2014	215	7	114	225	2	1	36	0	600
2015	211	5	112	238	5	0	45	0	616
2016	186	3	101	247	6	0	42	0	585
2017	164	4	89	232	9	1	35	0	534
2018	141	8	95	256	0	0	53	0	553
2019	150	8	87	228	3	0	46	0	522
2020	147	3	92	242	7	0	56	0	547
2021	129	3	84	211	6	0	42	0	475
2022	119	0	64	197	6	0	31	0	417
2023	107	3	55	201	6	0	41	0	413

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Fern Drive Elementary

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	575	22.0	26.1	n/a
1989	586	23.0	25.4	n/a
1990	584	22.8	25.6	n/a
1991	615	24.3	25.3	n/a
1992	639	24.7	25.8	9.4
1993	639	22.8	28.0	6.3
1994	628	23.8	26.4	8.8
1995	605	22.4	27.0	8.9
1996	605	22.4	27.0	8.9
1997	621	26.4	23.5	10.6
1998	674	28.6	23.6	10.4
1999	687	29.6	23.2	14.1
2000	690	29.0	23.8	13.9
2001	698	28.0	24.9	14.2
2002	647	26.5	24.4	11.1
2003	647	26.5	24.4	11.1
2004	681	27.5	24.8	9.9
2005	578	25.5	22.7	12.6
2006	552	22.5	24.5	15.7
2007	534	22.0	24.3	13.7
2008	478	23.5	20.3	15.9
2009	530	19.5	23.6	18.9
2010	537	18.5	29.0	19
2011	566	n/a	n/a	20.3
2012	562	19.0	29.5	n/a
2013	585	19.0	30.7	23.4
2014	600	20.0	30.0	26
2015	616	20.0	30.8	24.7
2016	585	21.0	27.8	31.5
2017	534	19.0	28.1	28.8
2018	553	19.0	29.1	26.8
2019	522	19.0	27.4	36.8
2020	547	n/a	n/a	38.4
2021	475	18.0	26.3	38.9
2022	417	18.1	23.0	51.1
2023	413	16.2	25.4	55.2

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Fern Drive Elementary

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1988	575	22.0	26.1	n/a
1989	586	23.0	25.4	n/a
1990	584	22.8	25.6	n/a
1991	615	24.3	25.3	n/a
1992	639	24.7	25.8	9.4
1993	639	22.8	28.0	6.3
1994	628	23.8	26.4	8.8
1995	605	22.4	27.0	8.9
1996	605	22.4	27.0	8.9
1997	621	26.4	23.5	10.6
1998	674	28.6	23.6	10.4
1999	687	29.6	23.2	14.1
2000	690	29.0	23.8	13.9
2001	698	28.0	24.9	14.2
2002	647	26.5	24.4	11.1
2003	647	26.5	24.4	11.1
2004	681	27.5	24.8	9.9
2005	578	25.5	22.7	12.6
2006	552	22.5	24.5	15.7
2007	534	22.0	24.3	13.7
2008	478	23.5	20.3	15.9
2009	530	19.5	23.6	18.9
2010	537	18.5	29.0	19
2011	566	n/a	n/a	20.3
2012	562	19.0	29.5	n/a
2013	585	19.0	30.7	23.4
2014	600	20.0	30.0	26
2015	616	20.0	30.8	24.7
2016	585	21.0	27.8	31.5
2017	534	19.0	28.1	28.8
2018	553	19.0	29.1	26.8
2019	522	19.0	27.4	36.8
2020	547	n/a	n/a	38.4
2021	475	18.0	26.3	38.9
2022	417	18.1	23.0	51.1
2023	413	16.2	25.4	55.2

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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