Cuddeback Elementary, Carlotta CA

Original Research by School Decision on Cuddeback Elementary

Cuddeback Elementary serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade in a small, rural unincorporated community in central Humboldt County. The school sits on a single campus along State Route 36 in Carlotta, a quiet, car-dependent settlement in the Eel River valley with a population of fewer than a thousand people. This is the only school in the Cuddeback Union Elementary School District.

The enrollment is small, with roughly a hundred and sixty students total spread across nine grades. More than half qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Native American and multi-racial students and a modest Hispanic population. Demographic data on English learners and students with individualized education plans was not available.

State testing results from 2024-25 show a mixed picture across grade levels. In English language arts, third grade performs strongest, while proficiency declines markedly by seventh grade. Math results are notably lower, with third grade at about three-quarters proficient and fifth grade dropping to around one-fifth. The school administered California's science test at fifth grade only, where results were similarly low. The overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades places Cuddeback above the midpoint among the county's school districts, though within-school variation across grade levels is substantial and worth tracking. Results for eighth grade in both math and English language arts were suppressed, likely due to the small cohort size.

Carlotta itself is a deeply rural place with limited economic activity. The region's historical foundation in timber and agriculture has largely faded; Pacific Lumber Company operations are gone, and no current major employer based in Carlotta was identified. The post office remains a local landmark, and the school campus itself serves as a community hub, with a multipurpose room and dedicated community center used for local events. Nearby parks and the Van Duzen River provide the area's primary recreational outlets. Housing values in the 95528 zip code are modest relative to the state benchmark, though recent years have seen some decline.

The school's academic pathway shows particular challenges in upper middle grades, especially in mathematics. A parent considering this school may want to look into what additional support or intervention structures are in place for students as they progress through the middle grades, where performance data suggests an uptick in difficulty. The school's small size affords a close-knit community environment but also means limited peer diversity and few specialized program options that larger districts can offer. This is fundamentally a neighborhood school for the sparse rural population it serves.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

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

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

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

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 19%

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

English language arts

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 48%

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

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

Social studies

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

This schoolCuddeback 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.