Sky Mountain Charter, Placerville CA

Original Research by School Decision on Sky Mountain Charter

Sky Mountain Charter is a kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade charter school located in Placerville, serving a school population drawn across El Dorado County. The school enrolls students across all grade levels, with relatively balanced cohorts in elementary and middle grades that taper in the high school years.

The student body is diverse. Hispanic students form the largest racial or ethnic group, while white students are also well-represented; Asian, Black, and multiracial students round out the composition. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a working-to-middle-income enrollment. Data on English learner and special education enrollment was not available, so the parent may want to ask the school directly about support services for those populations.

Academic performance, based on the most recent state testing, shows areas of strength alongside challenges that warrant attention. English language arts proficiency is a clear strength across the school. In the middle grades, seventh and eighth graders show notably higher proficiency rates, with eighth-grade ELA reaching a strong level. Science proficiency is moderate, with eighth-grade results coming in above the midpoint. Mathematics proficiency is the weaker area across the school, hovering in the low-to-mid range at most grade levels and dipping notably in grade five. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits above the midpoint among districts in El Dorado County.

The school operates as an independent-study charter with a recently added layer of structure. For elementary and middle grades, the model remains primarily independent-study, meaning students work largely at their own pace with periodic teacher check-ins and support. Beginning in high school, Sky Mountain introduced new High School Academies in the 2024-25 school year, a college-bound and career-oriented program that offers more traditional classroom instruction and a small cohort-based learning community. The school has also brought back live online instruction alongside its self-paced coursework, giving families flexibility to choose between independent and teacher-directed learning. This represents a meaningful shift from a traditional independent-study model and creates distinct elementary, middle, and high school pathways within a single school.

Career technical education is a growing feature. The school expanded its CTE offerings with a new Education CTE pathway launched for fall 2024, open to all high school students regardless of college intent. This reflects a broadening mission to serve both college-bound and career-oriented trajectories.

Placerville, where Sky Mountain is located, is the El Dorado County seat and a Gold Rush-era foothill town with a compact historic downtown. The town centers on a preserved nineteenth-century Main Street with shops, galleries, and restaurants, surrounded by residential historic districts. Civic life anchors around downtown and the county government facilities, and the town is known for its walkability in the commercial core. Healthcare and county government dominate local employment, with Marshall Medical Center being the region's largest private employer. Housing values in the zip code are moderate relative to state benchmarks, though rental markets have tightened recently. The area sits within commuting distance of Sacramento via El Dorado Transit routes, which operate locally and connect to park-and-ride lots for longer commutes.

Growth in Placerville is managed conservatively within its foothill terrain. The city is pursuing housing infill, annexations within its Sphere of Influence, and overlay zoning to meet state housing targets. Recent development has focused on multi-family and affordable housing projects, reflecting broader regional pressure on affordability and housing supply.

Sky Mountain's strength lies in its English language arts results and its structured high school academy model, which offers college and career pathways within a K-12 independent-study framework. Mathematics proficiency across the school is an area a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly the approach to instruction and support in that subject. The school's flexibility between independent-study and live instruction, combined with its CTE and college-prep tracks, makes it a choice point for families weighing self-paced learning against more traditional classroom models, both within a single school at different grade levels.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

90-94%Cohort of 126 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

2,394 schools plotted. 142 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · district not reported

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 629%

School 29% · district not reported

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · district not reported

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · district not reported

▲ 8 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · district not reported

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · district not reported

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · district not reported

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

Grade 866%

School 66% · district not reported

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolDistrict average, 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 3Lower-income34%Higher-income43%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income50%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income55%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income51%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income66%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income63%Higher-income68%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income38%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income26%Higher-income45%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income15%Higher-income30%16 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income31%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income29%Higher-income47%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income31%Higher-income38%7 pp gap