Shasta Lake, Shasta Lake CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Shasta Lake

Shasta Lake is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in the city of Shasta Lake, a small Northern California community that emerged during the 1930s-40s construction of Shasta Dam. The city retains a working-class, small-town character with commercial establishments concentrated along Shasta Dam Boulevard and residential blocks behind. The school sits in a place where health care, hospitality, and construction anchor the local job market, and where residents often commute to larger employment hubs like Redding.

The school enrolls a mid-sized population across its grade bands. About four of five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, multiracial, and other students. Data on English learners and students with individualized education plans was not available.

State testing results show proficiency challenges across the board. In English language arts, the school's performance runs below the midpoint among county districts, with proficiency rates ranging from roughly one in four students to somewhat above two in five across grades three through eight. Math proficiency sits similarly low, dipping as low as one in five students in grade six. Science results from the tested grades (five and eight) sit below one in three students. A social studies assessment from 2012-13, the most recent available, reported results from that era. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's proficiency index places it below the midpoint among Shasta County districts.

The school does not serve high school grades, so graduation data and secondary-level academic pathways do not apply. Middle grades do not face the breadth of electives and advanced courses that high schools offer, so the typical elementary and middle school program structure applies here.

Housing in the Shasta Lake area sits at lower absolute values than state benchmarks, making it a comparatively affordable market. Rents and purchase prices have remained relatively flat in recent months. The city is actively planning growth, including new affordable housing projects and single-family subdivisions, though wildfire hazard severity zones cover a significant portion of land and trigger building requirements families should be aware of.

Gateway Unified School District, which operates this school, passed a substantial general obligation bond in November 2024 to modernize facilities, upgrade systems, and expand career technical education. That bond adds a lasting property tax cost to the district. The district experienced significant governance instability from late 2022 through 2023, including the firing of a longtime superintendent, board turnover, and costly special elections. Those governance matters have since stabilized, though they represent a period of organizational stress that affected school operations.

A parent considering this school would want to look further into the specific academic support strategies the school is deploying to raise proficiency, given that performance across subjects sits well below where most county districts operate. The school's grade span and local context make it a neighborhood school serving Shasta Lake directly, with the understanding that students will transition to high school elsewhere in the Gateway Unified system.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 32% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 26% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 18% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 26% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 33% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 37% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 42% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 27% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 41% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 32% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 25% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 26% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 44% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

This schoolGateway 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income71%41 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income64%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income20%Higher-income41%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income43%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income24%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income57%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income64%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income17%Higher-income32%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income29%Higher-income38%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income37%Higher-income29%7 pp gap