Penn Elementary

Summary:

Penn Elementary is a public elementary school located in San Diego, California, serving grades K-5 with a total enrollment of 387 students. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District, which is ranked 604 out of 1,568 districts in California and has a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Penn Elementary faces several challenges, including lower academic performance compared to the state and district averages. In 2023-2024, only 53.37% of Penn Elementary students were proficient or better in English Language Arts/Literacy, compared to 54.22% for San Diego Unified and 47.04% for California. In Mathematics, Penn Elementary's proficiency rate was 40.11%, lower than the 43.89% for San Diego Unified and 35.54% for California. The school has also experienced a significant increase in chronic absenteeism, rising from 17.3% in 2018-2019 to 41.4% in 2022-2023, which is notably higher than nearby schools like Boone Elementary (42.9%) and Pacific View Leadership Elementary (39.4%).

When compared to nearby schools, Penn Elementary generally performs better than Boone Elementary and Pacific View Leadership Elementary, but lags behind Zamorano Elementary and Bethune K-8 in academic performance. The high rates of chronic absenteeism and students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds at Penn Elementary may be contributing factors to the school's relatively lower academic performance.


Detail:

Public K-5

 2797 Utica Dr.
       San Diego, CA  92139-3843


(619) 430-1700

District: San Diego Unified

SchoolDigger Rank:
2208th of 5,862 California Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $8,618 Help


Students who attend Penn Elementary usually attend:

Middle:    Bell Middle
High:    Morse High

Student/teacher ratio:  22.3 Help
Number of students:  380

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:
56.6%
Asian:
19.7%
Two or more races:
10.5%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  75.8% Help


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Performance Trends
Help
Compare Details Penn Elementary ranks better than 62.3% of elementary schools in California. It also ranks 63rd among 117 ranked elementary schools in the San Diego Unified School District. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 56.47. (See more...)
Help
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
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Compare Details Racial makeup is: Hispanic (56.6%), Asian (19.7%), two or more races (10.5%). (See more...)
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Compare Details 75.8% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)
Teachers
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Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Penn Elementary is 22.3, which is the 42nd best among 117 elementary schools in the San Diego Unified School District. (See more...)
Help
Compare Penn Elementary employs 17 full-time teachers.
Finance
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Compare Details The average total spent per student at Penn Elementary is $8,618, which is the 52nd highest among 117 elementary schools in the San Diego Unified School District.
Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Penn Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Penn Elementary 2208th of 5862 California public elementary schools. (See Penn Elementary in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Male students:
Hispanic students:


San Diego Unified:

SchoolDigger ranks San Diego Unified 604th of 1568 California school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Rank History for Penn Elementary

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Rank History for all students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2004 59.48 1735th 4809 63.9%
2005 58.93 1797th 4822 62.7%
2006 54.76 1973rd 4818 59.0%
2007 63.89 1642nd 5113 67.9%
2008 49.80 2383rd 5113 53.4%
2009 66.28 1624th 5193 68.7%
2010 57.59 2133rd 5314 59.9%
2011 48.90 2657th 5377 50.6%
2012 40.64 3228th 5390 40.1%
2013 46.19 2912th 5530 47.3%
2015 55.34 2161st 5611 61.5%
2016 58.75 2055th 5614 63.4%
2017 72.09 1467th 5692 74.2%
2018 65.69 1775th 5662 68.7%
2019 54.88 2328th 5789 59.8%
2022 62.12 1938th 5883 67.1%
2023 48.02 2639th 5874 55.1%
2024 56.47 2208th 5862 62.3%
See the entire list of California Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2023 2.91 657th 669 1.8%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2022 85.25 227th 3311 93.1%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 75.69 887th 5084 82.6%
2019 64.05 1508th 5173 70.8%
2022 76.56 891st 5264 83.1%
2023 56.16 1976th 5374 63.2%
2024 68.65 1323rd 5511 76.0%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 69.96 1504th 5413 72.2%
2019 57.59 2077th 5492 62.2%
2022 52.38 2287th 5635 59.4%
2023 47.40 2557th 5617 54.5%
2024 60.28 1940th 5605 65.4%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 56.82 2076th 5431 61.8%
2019 49.98 2457th 5510 55.4%
2022 70.37 1508th 5663 73.4%
2023 47.88 2571st 5650 54.5%
2024 50.54 2430th 5636 56.9%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Penn Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 65.43 1358th 4830 71.9%
2019 59.31 1727th 4963 65.2%
2022 62.20 1512th 5084 70.3%
2023 56.98 1822nd 5098 64.3%
2024 50.24 2252nd 5102 55.9%
See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Hispanic 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.

Penn Elementary Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 






Data source: California Department of Education

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Enrollment information for Penn Elementary

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Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
1988 272 174 253 186 1 n/a n/a 0 886
1989 248 160 263 198 1 n/a n/a 0 870
1990 233 182 238 192 2 n/a n/a 0 847
1991 222 215 255 210 2 n/a n/a 0 904
1992 183 205 281 248 4 n/a n/a 0 921
1993 167 192 320 225 3 n/a n/a 0 907
1994 166 181 349 247 2 n/a n/a 0 945
1995 128 223 350 220 2 n/a n/a 0 923
1996 128 223 350 220 2 n/a n/a 0 923
1997 99 208 356 213 2 n/a n/a 0 878
1998 110 208 366 237 3 n/a n/a 0 924
1999 119 188 379 216 3 n/a n/a 0 905
2000 120 172 359 231 3 n/a n/a 0 885
2001 102 166 336 241 3 n/a n/a 0 848
2002 71 157 292 298 2 n/a n/a 0 820
2003 71 157 292 298 2 n/a n/a 0 820
2004 77 150 287 328 1 n/a n/a 0 843
2005 71 145 273 282 0 n/a n/a 0 771
2006 47 148 255 307 2 n/a n/a 0 759
2007 43 147 218 259 2 n/a n/a 12 681
2008 34 125 159 212 1 n/a n/a 0 531
2009 29 133 161 212 3 8 0 0 546
2010 16 88 107 206 0 2 44 0 463
2011 13 84 100 185 0 0 48 0 430
2012 13 93 99 189 0 1 41 0 436
2013 13 87 105 177 0 3 38 0 423
2014 9 83 101 179 2 2 48 0 424
2015 12 72 96 149 2 7 45 0 383
2016 15 49 89 163 2 0 49 0 367
2017 19 46 103 147 2 0 52 0 369
2018 21 51 90 168 3 4 61 0 398
2019 21 55 88 173 4 3 60 0 404
2020 20 50 89 188 2 3 60 0 412
2021 12 38 89 179 1 2 43 0 364
2022 12 43 64 199 1 2 45 0 366
2023 8 56 71 203 1 1 47 0 387
2024 9 38 75 215 1 2 40 0 380

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 Penn Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 886 34.6 25.6 n/a
1989 870 34.2 25.4 n/a
1990 847 35.2 24.0 n/a
1991 904 35.2 25.6 n/a
1992 921 35.8 25.7 39.3
1993 907 36.2 25.1 40.5
1994 945 37.0 25.5 47.7
1995 923 38.0 24.3 67.7
1996 923 38.0 24.3 67.7
1997 878 39.0 22.5 64.8
1998 924 43.0 21.5 65
1999 905 44.0 20.6 66.6
2000 885 43.0 20.6 63.1
2001 848 43.5 19.5 49.1
2002 820 41.5 19.8 63.9
2003 820 41.5 19.8 63.9
2004 843 41.5 20.3 58
2005 771 41.5 18.6 66.7
2006 759 38.0 20.0 65.9
2007 681 33.7 20.2 72.2
2008 531 32.0 16.6 71.8
2009 546 27.3 18.1 76
2010 463 21.6 21.3 79.7
2011 430 n/a n/a 78.6
2012 436 19.8 22.0 99.3
2013 423 21.8 19.4 76.4
2014 424 15.0 28.2 73.1
2015 383 14.0 27.3 77
2016 367 14.0 26.2 78.5
2017 369 14.0 26.3 75.3
2018 398 15.0 26.5 79.6
2019 404 18.0 22.4 78.2
2020 412 n/a n/a 73.8
2021 364 19.0 19.1 58.8
2022 366 17.0 21.5 79.8
2023 387 18.0 21.5 80.1
2024 380 17.0 22.3 75.8

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 Penn Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 886 34.6 25.6 n/a
1989 870 34.2 25.4 n/a
1990 847 35.2 24.0 n/a
1991 904 35.2 25.6 n/a
1992 921 35.8 25.7 39.3
1993 907 36.2 25.1 40.5
1994 945 37.0 25.5 47.7
1995 923 38.0 24.3 67.7
1996 923 38.0 24.3 67.7
1997 878 39.0 22.5 64.8
1998 924 43.0 21.5 65
1999 905 44.0 20.6 66.6
2000 885 43.0 20.6 63.1
2001 848 43.5 19.5 49.1
2002 820 41.5 19.8 63.9
2003 820 41.5 19.8 63.9
2004 843 41.5 20.3 58
2005 771 41.5 18.6 66.7
2006 759 38.0 20.0 65.9
2007 681 33.7 20.2 72.2
2008 531 32.0 16.6 71.8
2009 546 27.3 18.1 76
2010 463 21.6 21.3 79.7
2011 430 n/a n/a 78.6
2012 436 19.8 22.0 99.3
2013 423 21.8 19.4 76.4
2014 424 15.0 28.2 73.1
2015 383 14.0 27.3 77
2016 367 14.0 26.2 78.5
2017 369 14.0 26.3 75.3
2018 398 15.0 26.5 79.6
2019 404 18.0 22.4 78.2
2020 412 n/a n/a 73.8
2021 364 19.0 19.1 58.8
2022 366 17.0 21.5 79.8
2023 387 18.0 21.5 80.1
2024 380 17.0 22.3 75.8

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.

Kindergarten Immunization Rates

Penn Elementary

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Compare
YearCompletely ImmunizedReligious ExemptionMedical ExemptionConditionalPolioHepatitis BVaricellaDTPMMR
201297.0%0.0%0.0%3.0%100.0%97.0%100.0%100.0%100.0%
201379.0%0.0%1.0%19.0%82.0%99.0%97.0%82.0%84.0%
201492.0%2.0%0.0%6.0%97.0%98.0%98.0%94.0%96.0%
201599.0%1.0%0.0%0.0%99.0%99.0%99.0%99.0%99.0%
201696.0%0.0%0.0%4.0%98.0%98.0%100.0%96.0%100.0%
201796.0%0.0%0.0%4.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%96.0%≥98.0%
201896.0%0.0%1.0%1.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%
2019≥98.0%≤2.0%≤2.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%≥98.0%
202092.5%1.1%2.2%96.8%96.8%94.6%94.6%96.8%
202290.0%0.0%4.3%97.1%95.7%95.7%92.9%95.7%

Data source: California Department of Public Health
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Penn Elementary

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YearTotal Expenditures Per Pupil
2018 $8,618

Data source: California Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Penn Elementary

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 2328th of 5789 Elementary schoolsRanks 2639th of 5874 Elementary schools
 4.7%

Test Scores

% proficient
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
% proficient
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
3rd Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (Penn Elementary)67.464.2
 3.2%
   3rd Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (San Diego Unified)56.253.6
 2.6%
   3rd Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (California)48.543
 5.6%
3rd Grade Mathematics (Penn Elementary)69.654.7
 14.9%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (San Diego Unified)60.455
 5.5%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (California)50.245.1
 5.1%
4th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (Penn Elementary)47.946.8
 1.1%
   4th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (San Diego Unified)56.851.1
 5.7%
   4th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (California)49.543.7
 5.7%
4th Grade Mathematics (Penn Elementary)3828.6
 9.5%
   4th Grade Mathematics (San Diego Unified)5550
 5%
   4th Grade Mathematics (California)44.940.8
 4.1%
5th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (Penn Elementary)47.844.2
 3.6%
   5th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (San Diego Unified)6055.6
 4.4%
   5th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (California)51.746.7
 5%
5th Grade Mathematics (Penn Elementary)3711.5
 25.4%
   5th Grade Mathematics (San Diego Unified)50.742.5
 8.2%
   5th Grade Mathematics (California)3833.4
 4.6%
5th Grade Science (Penn Elementary)28.321.2
 7.1%
   5th Grade Science (San Diego Unified)39.940
 0.2%
   5th Grade Science (California)31.731.9
 0.1%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students404387
 4.2%
African American5556
 1.8%
American Indian41
 75%
Asian8871
 19.3%
Hispanic173203
 17.3%
Pacific Islander31
 66.7%
White218
 61.9%
Two or More Races6047
 21.7%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients78.2%80.1%
 1.9%


Schools Near Penn Elementary









Frequently Asked Questions about Penn Elementary

Students at Penn Elementary are 57% Hispanic, 20% Asian, 11% Two or more races, 10% African American, 2% White.

Students who attend Penn Elementary usually go on to attend:

Middle : Bell Middle
High : Morse High

In the 2023-24 school year, 380 students attended Penn Elementary.

Penn Elementary ranks 2208th of 5862 California elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 3 stars out of 5.


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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