Healdsburg Junior High, Healdsburg CA

Original Research by School Decision on Healdsburg Junior High

Healdsburg Junior High serves students in grades six through eight in a small wine-country community in Sonoma County. The school's enrollment is modest, with the student body composed predominantly of Latino students and a substantial share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. A notable majority of the school community speaks Spanish at home or has family roots in agricultural or service sectors that anchor the local economy.

On California's state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, the school's academic profile shows uneven performance across subjects. In English language arts, students performed at a level that sits roughly around the midpoint for Sonoma County schools: sixth graders reached proficiency at one rate, seventh graders performed stronger, and eighth graders showed slightly lower performance than sixth grade. The trend is one of modest strength in reading and writing, with a meaningful share of students demonstrating grade-level competence.

Mathematics proficiency is substantially weaker. Across all three grades, fewer than one in three students reached the proficiency threshold. Performance declined as students advanced from sixth to eighth grade, with the oldest cohort showing the lowest proficiency rate. This trajectory suggests that the school may be working with students who have not yet solidified foundational computational or problem-solving skills, or who face increasing difficulty with abstract concepts expected in later middle school coursework.

Science proficiency, measured for eighth graders only, fell below the proficiency rate in English language arts by a considerable margin. Overall, when averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school's proficiency index positions it below the midpoint among Sonoma County districts, according to the comparison set. A parent may want to look into how the school supports students who arrive below grade level, particularly in mathematics, and what interventions or additional instruction are in place as students move toward high school.

Healdsburg Junior High sits in an established school corridor within walking distance of downtown, a compact, walkable town centered around a historic plaza where wine tasting rooms, restaurants, galleries, and shops cluster. The town itself has undergone a shift toward upscale tourism and destination living in recent years, with new luxury hotels, spas, and residential developments reshaping the downtown gateway. Housing values are elevated relative to national and state averages, though the community is working to preserve affordability through deed-restricted and income-restricted housing in new projects like the Mill District, an ambitious mixed-use redevelopment now under way.

The broader Healdsburg Unified School District recently passed a school bond measure to fund significant repairs and modernization at its elementary schools. That capital investment reflects a commitment to infrastructure and maintenance, and families considering a move to the area should factor the property tax obligation tied to that bond into their housing calculations.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 27%

even with state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 51%

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

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 57% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 51%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 31%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

This schoolHealdsburg 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 6Lower-income43%Higher-income74%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income71%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income62%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income53%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income54%33 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income47%28 pp gap