Woodrow Wilson Elementary, Colton CA

Original Research by School Decision on Woodrow Wilson Elementary

Woodrow Wilson Elementary is a small, K-6 public school in Colton serving roughly a modest enrollment from a neighborhood with deep economic challenges and rapid residential growth. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black population and smaller numbers of other groups. The school sits in a logistics and commerce hub town that has been working through decades-old infrastructure needs.

The academic picture is sobering. State testing data from the most recent year shows proficiency rates well below typical benchmarks. In English language arts, fewer than half the students assessed at any grade level met proficiency standards, with third and sixth graders in the low twenties and fourth and fifth graders ranging from the upper twenties to low forties. Math proficiency is even lower: third grade was in the upper twenties, fourth grade scraped to just under half, and fifth and sixth graders fell into single digits. Science testing, administered only in fifth grade, shows proficiency similarly weak. Across both major subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint compared to other schools in San Bernardino County. The school lacks multi-year trend data to assess whether this represents a pattern or recent change.

Special-education and English-learner status data were not reported, making it difficult to understand whether these populations receive adequate tracking or whether their outcomes skew the overall figures. Attendance and chronic-absenteeism data were also absent from the record, which is relevant given the economic stressors common in this community.

Colton Joint Unified, the school's district, approved a major school facilities bond in the past year, the district's first such authorization in decades, aimed at repairing and upgrading aging buildings. Many schools in the district, including older elementary buildings, are over fifty years old and require modernization. The bond adds a property-tax levy for homeowners for as long as the bonds are outstanding. For families already stretched by cost of living, this is a material addition; for the school building itself, it signals district commitment to facility investment, though such work typically unfolds over years.

Housing in the Colton area is moderately priced compared to California statewide benchmarks, and the city is in the midst of active residential development with new townhome and single-family projects underway. Rent is rising and median local wages have recovered modestly. The city functions as a distribution hub with major employers in logistics and healthcare. For school-age families, the economy here is largely working-class and service-oriented.

A parent choosing this school should reckon with weak academic performance across subjects and grades, alongside questions about whether this reflects instructional gaps, resource constraints, language-learner or special-education concentrations, or attendance challenges. The school serves a neighborhood where poverty is the baseline condition, which frames peer composition and likely creates both peer support rooted in shared circumstance and the resource limitations that come with that. The district's recent bond approval signals intent to improve facilities, but classroom instruction and professional capacity are separate from buildings. A parent may want to look into the school's current instructional priorities, the availability of intervention supports, and whether the district has published any improvement plan or recent internal assessment results beyond state testing.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 31% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 26% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 16% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 22% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 32% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 34% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 33% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 36% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 17%

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

This schoolColton Joint 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.