Foresthill Divide, Foresthill CA

Original Research by School Decision on Foresthill Divide

Foresthill Divide is a K-8 school serving a rural, forested community in the Sierra foothills about halfway between Auburn and Lake Tahoe. The school recently became the upper-grades campus (serving grades 3-8) after the district reorganized into two sites, with a companion school now handling the youngest children. Foresthill Divide itself enrolls students across a fairly wide range of ages and academic readiness, sitting on a ridge at some elevation with very limited public transit and a strong car-dependent setting.

The student body is predominantly white and relatively stable. About four in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that reflects the economic diversity of a rural foothills community where home ownership is common but jobs are scarce and many families commute down the mountain for work. A modest share of students identify as Hispanic, and the enrollment draws from the immediate area's family population. Civil rights data on special-education and English-learner rates were not available in the school's public reporting.

State testing results paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency runs between roughly one-quarter and about one-half depending on grade, with fourth and seventh graders reaching the higher end of that range and third graders and sixth graders somewhat lower. Math is noticeably weaker. Third-grade math proficiency sits around one-quarter, fourth grade climbs to about one-half, but then fifth through eighth grades trend downward, with eighth grade landing around one-fifth. Science proficiency at fifth grade registers around two-fifths; eighth-grade science is slightly lower. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among districts in Placer County, meaning its academic results are materially weaker than most peer schools in the county.

The trend data available shows only one year, so a parent cannot yet see whether these numbers are shifting up or down. A parent may want to look into this further with the school directly, particularly around what support structures or initiatives exist for math remediation and whether the recent reorganization into two campuses has affected instructional continuity or resource allocation.

Foresthill Divide feeds students from a sparse, owner-heavy residential area where the landscape is dominated by evergreens and where the town center clusters civic institutions like the library and school along Foresthill Road. The area attracts families seeking a forested, low-density setting and appeals to those who commute to jobs in Auburn or Sacramento. Housing values have edged up slightly and are running above both the state and national medians, though the jobs-housing mismatch means most working-age residents leave during the day. Wildfire risk is a real factor in the region and shapes infrastructure priorities and building standards.

The school's grade span ends at eighth grade. Students moving into high school transition to Foresthill High School, which sits nearby along Foresthill Road but operates under a separate high school district, so a family enrolling a younger child here needs to plan for that shift when the student reaches grade 9.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 54%

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

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Science

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 33%

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

This schoolForesthill 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income35%11 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income59%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income57%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income48%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income63%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income55%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income16%Higher-income35%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income48%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income36%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income22%Higher-income27%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income40%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income15%Higher-income21%6 pp gap