Banyan Elementary vs Maple Elementary

Banyan Elementary and Maple Elementary sit 1.1 miles apart in Newbury Park, California, but their ratings diverge sharply. Banyan Elementary scores 9.6/10 overall against Maple Elementary's 8.7/10 — a 0.9-point gap that compounds dramatically at the state level: Banyan ranks #14 of 9,533 California elementary schools, while Maple ranks #544. Both are strong schools by any absolute measure, but Banyan's position puts it in the top 0.2% statewide, a distinction that matters when families are weighing long-term academic trajectory.

The academic and growth data widen the picture further. Banyan Elementary leads on academic score 9.5 to Maple Elementary's 8.1 — a 1.4-point delta — and on growth score 9.9 to Maple's 8.7, a 1.2-point difference. Growth score measures how much students advance relative to peers with similar prior achievement, so Banyan's near-perfect 9.9 reflects consistent, measurable year-over-year gains across its student body, not just a high-performing incoming cohort.

The two schools differ meaningfully in size, economic mix, and classroom density. Banyan Elementary enrolls 412 students against Maple Elementary's 212 — nearly double the population — with a student-teacher ratio of 18.7:1 versus Maple's 15.1:1. Maple's smaller classes translate to roughly 3.6 fewer students per teacher. On economic indicators, Maple serves a higher share of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch: 42% versus Banyan's 26%, a 16-point gap that reflects different neighborhood demographics within the same ZIP code.

Both schools serve grades KG–05 and operate within the same district, so curriculum frameworks and administrative oversight are shared. The practical differences come down to scale and concentration: Banyan is larger, academically higher-rated, and draws from a lower-FRL population, while Maple is a smaller campus with tighter class sizes and a more economically diverse enrollment.