Big Springs Elementary, Montague CA

Original Research by School Decision on Big Springs Elementary

Big Springs Elementary is a small K-8 school serving the Montague area in Siskiyou County with an enrollment of about a hundred twenty students. The school sits on Highway A-12 outside the compact city of Montague, a quiet, car-dependent former railroad town in the Shasta Valley in far northern California. Montague itself is small and declining, with a downtown anchored around a historic main street and civic center, though Big Springs draws its name and mailing address from the same area but operates independently as its own single-school district.

The academic picture at Big Springs is challenging. State testing data from the most recent school year shows proficiency rates well below statewide averages across tested subjects. In English language arts, school-wide proficiency stands low, with seventh grade notably higher than other grades while upper elementary grades show single-digit performance. Mathematics proficiency is even more strained, with fifth and seventh graders showing zero proficiency on state assessments and other grades similarly struggling; grade four's data was suppressed due to small group size. Science proficiency, tested at grades five and eight, is very low. These patterns reflect what the state assessment data can show: a school facing substantial headwinds in meeting grade-level content standards. Parents should look into the school's instructional plans and supports directly with administration, as published test results alone do not tell why performance sits where it does or what interventions are in place.

The student body is economically disadvantaged overall; roughly two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Enrollment by grade is uneven, ranging from a handful in kindergarten to small double-digit cohorts in upper elementary and middle grades. The student population is racially mixed, with white students forming a slight plurality, and Asian, mixed-race, Hispanic, and American Indian students represented. Specific counts of students receiving special education services or English learner support are not publicly reported for this school.

The single-school structure means all students K through 8 attend the same campus. The district is currently expanding and modernizing the facility, adding new transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms built to state standards, along with broader school modernization. This construction project addresses a practical reality for families: in a single-school district, facility improvements touch the whole student population and span from early childhood through eighth grade. All students receive free breakfast and lunch daily, a meaningful benefit in a district where economic disadvantage is widespread.

The housing market in the zip code where the school sits reflects Montague's modest economic position and flat growth trajectory. Home values are below both the California and national medians, and residential affordability is relatively favorable compared to statewide norms. The wider region has seen slow population decline and faces little pressure for new housing development. This context shapes the school's enrollment stability and family composition.

The school sits in a county peer group that includes other small and mid-sized districts. In overall proficiency rankings among Siskiyou County districts, Big Springs Elementary places in the bottom quartile, meaning its students' proficiency rates are lower than those at roughly three-quarters of other county school settings. This positioning reflects the academic strain evident in the state test results and underscores that families choosing this school do so with the knowledge that academic attainment here is substantially below county averages.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 0%

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

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 5%

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

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 0%

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

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

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

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 25%

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

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

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

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 22%

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

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 41%

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 25%

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

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

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

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 6%

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

This schoolBig Springs Union Elementary, 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.