Redding School of the Arts, Redding CA

Original Research by School Decision on Redding School of the Arts

Redding School of the Arts is a charter school serving kindergarten through twelfth grade on Inspiration Place in Redding, California. It operates as its own single-school district and draws from across the city rather than a fixed attendance boundary. The school's identity is built around integrating the arts throughout a standard academic curriculum, and its recent expansion from a K-8 campus into a full K-12 school marks the most consequential change in its recent history.

That expansion is worth understanding in some detail. Publicly reported information indicates that RSA launched an Early College High School for grades nine through twelve, adding a grade year by year. The high school is still young, and the enrollment data reflects this: the upper grades are considerably smaller than the lower ones, with the twelfth grade currently reporting no students. Families considering RSA for a student who might eventually want to complete high school there should ask the school directly about the pace at which upper grades are being built out and what the full program will look like at capacity.

The high school does bring two meaningful academic offerings. RSA publicly reports a dual-enrollment agreement with nearby Shasta College, allowing high school students to earn college credit while still on campus. The school also introduced Career Technical Education pathway courses designed to connect arts practice with industry and career planning. Together these give the high school an early-college and career-pathway dimension that, while still developing, is a genuine strength for families who want those options woven into an arts-focused environment.

On state assessments, RSA tests grades three through eight on the California Smarter Balanced exams in English language arts and math. Reading and writing results are notably stronger than math results across most tested grades, and the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Shasta County. ELA scores climb through the middle school years, with eighth graders showing the strongest results in the school. Math proficiency holds in the mid-range across most grades, dipping in sixth grade before recovering slightly. Science results at fifth grade are solid, while eighth-grade science proficiency is somewhat lower. No multi-year trend data is available, since only the most recent year of testing has been reported for this school, so it is not possible to say whether results are rising or flat.

The school serves a student body where white students make up the largest share of enrollment, with students identifying as two or more races forming a sizable second group, and Hispanic students the third. About three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a meaningfully lower share than many schools in the region. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so it is not possible to characterize those populations or what support structures are in place. A parent whose child has an IEP or is an English learner would want to ask the school directly about services.

Chronic absenteeism and graduation rate data were not available in the data provided. The graduation rate gap is partly explained by the school's high school still being new and thin in its upper grades, but a parent should ask the school for its own reporting on student completion as the program matures.

Redding itself is a mid-sized city functioning as the regional hub for far Northern California, anchored economically by healthcare, retail, and education. The housing market here sits well below the California state median, making it more accessible than most of the state, and home values have been roughly flat year over year. Rents have edged upward slightly. The city is in an active growth phase, with new residential subdivisions spreading outward and a downtown that has been adding housing and commercial activity, partly in response to rebuilding after a major wildfire some years ago.

For a family choosing RSA, the core question is fit. The school's premise is that arts integration belongs at the center of education, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The academic results, particularly in ELA, are competitive within Shasta County. The high school pathway, with its dual-enrollment and career-technical offerings, is a genuine asset for students who want to stay through graduation, though its small scale and recent launch mean families should probe what the experience looks like in practice right now.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 347%

School 47% · district not reported

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

Grade 449%

School 49% · district not reported

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · district not reported

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · district not reported

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

Grade 743%

School 43% · district not reported

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 340%

School 40% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 456%

School 56% · district not reported

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 565%

School 65% · district not reported

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

Grade 647%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 764%

School 64% · district not reported

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

Grade 872%

School 72% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 556%

School 56% · district not reported

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

Grade 844%

School 44% · district not reported

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 9 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-income29%Higher-income48%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income62%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income81%46 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income59%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income71%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income61%Higher-income78%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income39%Higher-income53%13 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income56%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income60%40 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income44%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income47%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income56%Higher-income44%11 pp gap