Summary:
ZIP code 92653 has two K–6 elementary schools, Valencia Elementary and Lomarena Elementary, both in Saddleback Valley Unified. In 2025–26, the two-school average was above California’s in ELA, math and science, with the largest advantages in math and science: 15 and 15 percentage points, compared with 9 points in ELA. The most important difference for families comparing these schools is that proficiency was consistently higher at Valencia across all three subjects.
Valencia Elementary stands out: 72% of students were proficient in ELA, 68% in math and 62% in science, leading Lomarena Elementary by 28, 30 and 22 percentage points, respectively. Valencia was also above state results in all three subjects. Lomarena had 44% proficiency in ELA, 38% in math and 40% in science; its clearest relative strength was science, 4 points above the state, while its ELA result was 5 points below. SchoolDigger ranks Valencia 621st of 5,804 schools (89th percentile, four stars) and Lomarena 2,640th (55th percentile, three stars).
Recent results show science improving at both schools, while ELA declined: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, science rose 8 percentage points at each school, and ELA fell 3 points at Valencia and 5 at Lomarena. Lomarena’s math score fell 4 points, while Valencia’s rose 3. The schools’ advantage over the state narrowed in ELA and math but grew in science; Lomarena moved from just below the state in science to 4 points above it. Context also differs: in 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 24% at Valencia and 69% at Lomarena, and student–teacher ratios were 27.1 and 22.3, respectively. In 2025–26, chronic absenteeism was 5% at Valencia and 16% at Lomarena.
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