Community Roots Academy, Laguna Niguel CA

Original Research by School Decision on Community Roots Academy

Community Roots Academy is a charter school in Laguna Niguel serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits on Crown Valley Parkway in one of Southern California's original master-planned communities, a largely built-out, upscale residential city in South Orange County where parks and open space define daily life more than any commercial corridor. The city functions primarily as a commuter suburb, car-dependent by design, with a Metrolink station on Forbes Road connecting residents to the broader Orange County rail network.

The school's academic profile, measured by California's CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessments in the 2024-25 school year, shows a clear split between English language arts and math. ELA proficiency is a genuine strength: across grades three through eight, the school posts solidly strong rates, with most grades landing in the mid-to-upper seventies. That pattern is consistent and holds through the middle grades. Math tells a different story. Third grade is the high point, with roughly three in four students meeting the standard, but proficiency in the middle grades runs closer to half or below, with seventh grade the lowest point. Science results from the state's CAST assessment, available at fifth and eighth grade, sit in roughly the mid-to-upper fifties range. Placed against districts in Orange County, the school's overall proficiency index lands above the midpoint of the comparison set, which is a meaningful position given the size and academic diversity of that county. Multi-year trend data was not available, so whether these results represent improvement, a plateau, or a recent shift cannot be assessed from the data provided.

The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races each making up a meaningful share of enrollment. Asian students and other groups are present in smaller proportions. Only a small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is consistent with the economic character of Laguna Niguel itself, where home values run well above both the California and national medians and rental costs are similarly elevated. The housing market here is among the more expensive in the state. Data on English learner rates and students served under IEPs was not available in the payload, so families with those interests should ask the school directly.

The school operates as a charter within its own single-school district. No information about specific program offerings, course access, staffing ratios, or discipline data was included in the data provided. The district brief search was exhausted without surfacing recent operational or policy changes, so that context is absent rather than absent by design.

For a family weighing this school, the ELA results are genuinely encouraging across all tested grades, and the school's overall standing in the Orange County comparison set is solid. The math picture in the middle grades is worth a direct conversation with the school, particularly for families of students heading into grades six and seven. The setting suits families comfortable in a car-dependent, park-rich residential suburb, and the school's enrollment is a mid-sized one for a K-8 campus. Whether the charter model, the specific demographic mix, or the community's economic character is the right fit depends on what a family is looking for, and the data here describes rather than decides those questions.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 375%

School 75% · district not reported

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 451%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · district not reported

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

Grade 651%

School 51% · district not reported

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

Grade 744%

School 44% · district not reported

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

Grade 853%

School 53% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 376%

School 76% · district not reported

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · district not reported

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 577%

School 77% · district not reported

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · district not reported

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

Grade 759%

School 59% · district not reported

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

Grade 876%

School 76% · district not reported

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · district not reported

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

Grade 858%

School 58% · district not reported

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above 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-income64%Higher-income78%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income79%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income77%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income57%Higher-income78%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income54%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income57%30 pp gap