American Union Elementary, Fresno CA

Original Research by School Decision on American Union Elementary

American Union Elementary is a small school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Fresno, located in Washington Unified School District. The enrollment is modest, distributed across nine grade levels, with a student body that is predominantly Latino and faces significant economic hardship. Three-quarters of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school sits in a neighborhood where median housing values and rents are both below the state benchmark, reflecting a lower-income area.

The academic picture here is challenging. State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year show proficiency rates that are consistently low across tested subjects and grade levels. In English language arts, school-wide proficiency sits below a third of students, with particularly weak performance in grades four and eight. Grade five is an exception, with proficiency notably higher in ELA than other grades. Math proficiency is also low overall, and the grade-by-grade pattern is uneven. Third grade shows the strongest math performance at around half proficient, while grade four drops sharply to roughly a quarter. Grades five and six hover in the mid-thirties to mid-forties, but grades seven and eight show proficiency rates in the single digits. Science results follow a similar trajectory, with grade five performing much better than grade eight. Placed against the other districts in Fresno County, American Union's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint.

The school's performance pattern suggests either significant challenges in how material is introduced and sequenced across grades, or deeper structural issues with how instruction is organized. A parent might want to look into this further with the school, as the dramatic drop-offs between certain grades and the especially low results in seventh and eighth grade mathematics and science warrant direct conversation about root causes and any remediation strategies in place.

Washington Unified launched a Community Schools initiative beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, placing integrated student support services, health and wellness programs, academic support, after-school care, and summer programming on each campus, including American Union. This means the school offers more than classroom instruction alone. The district also passed a general obligation bond (Measure K) in 2020 that funds facility improvements, a sign of sustained local investment.

The broader Fresno context is one of low-density sprawl and economic agriculture, with downtown revitalization efforts underway but with much of the city still organized around separated residential neighborhoods and institutions. Housing in the school's zip code is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, which may draw families seeking lower housing costs, but the economic profile of the neighborhood and the school's student body suggests limited resources at home to support academic work outside school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 37% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 22% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 20% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 17% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 12% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 12% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 21% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 30% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 24% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 20% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 25% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Science

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 23% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 13% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 19% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

This schoolWashington 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.