The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in Social studies. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Westside Preparatory Charter
Westside Preparatory Charter is a seventh-and-eighth-grade charter school sitting on West Second Street in Rio Linda, a semi-rural unincorporated community roughly ten to fourteen miles north of downtown Sacramento. It is authorized through Twin Rivers Unified, the district whose boundaries cover most of Rio Linda, though as a charter it operates with its own governance. The school serves only the two middle grades, so there is no graduation rate here and no high school pathway to evaluate; families are choosing a two-year bridge, not a full K-12 arc.
The student body is a mid-sized cohort for a school of this grade band and is meaningfully diverse by race and ethnicity, with Hispanic students making up the plurality, followed by white, Black, and Asian students, and smaller shares across other groups. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this among the higher-poverty middle schools in the region. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not reported in what was available, so a parent wanting to understand those support structures would want to ask the school directly.
On California's Smarter Balanced assessments, seventh-graders are reading and writing at rates that sit roughly at the state midpoint, while eighth-graders perform somewhat higher in English language arts. Math proficiency is lower at both grade levels, with roughly a third of students meeting or exceeding the standard in each grade. Science proficiency on the CAST, tested at eighth grade, falls below the math figures. When all tested subjects and grades are combined into a single index, Westside Prep lands in the top quartile among the districts in Sacramento County used for comparison, which is a stronger relative position than the subject-by-subject picture might suggest on its own. That said, math and science results are areas where a parent may want to ask the school what intervention or enrichment structures are in place. Trend data is limited to a single year of current results, so it is not possible to say from the data whether performance has been improving or declining.
The school is embedded in Twin Rivers Unified's broader context, and that context has been turbulent in ways that matter to families. Publicly reported coverage describes the district's first-ever teacher strike in early 2026, which lasted nearly two weeks and resulted in a two-year contract with pay increases and expanded health benefits. During the strike, classroom instruction was substantially disrupted. The settlement is publicly described as aimed partly at addressing a staffing and retention problem, and how that plays out in actual classroom stability at Westside Prep specifically is worth asking about. Separately, the district recently passed two bond measures authorizing facilities modernization funded by a new property-tax levy, which affects homeowners in the district's boundaries.
Rio Linda itself is a bedroom community with large lots, equestrian properties, and a country feel that is changing at its edges. Several large master-planned housing developments are either approved or under construction in adjacent Elverta and along the northern Sacramento County fringe, meaning the community's semi-rural character is under active pressure from growth. The area is car-dependent; most amenities require driving, and transit connections to Sacramento, while available, are slow. Housing in the Rio Linda zip code sits well below the California state median, making it substantially more accessible than much of the Sacramento metro, and values have been roughly flat year over year. Renters and buyers are in a similar monthly cost position at current rates and prices.
Program details for Westside Prep were not available in the data, so it is not possible to characterize specific offerings, electives, or extracurriculars beyond what the name implies about a college-preparatory orientation. Families would want to ask the school directly about what that means in practice at the seventh- and eighth-grade level.
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