Richard H. Lewis Alternative, Lower Lake CA

Original Research by School Decision on Richard H. Lewis Alternative

Richard H. Lewis Alternative serves kindergarten through twelfth grade in Lower Lake, a small rural unincorporated community in southern Lake County near Clear Lake. The school is a non-charter alternative school within Konocti Unified. It is located on Lake Street, where the district's schools cluster together, separate from the town's historic Main Street.

The school serves about a hundred students with a wide grade span but very small cohorts in the lower elementary grades and larger groups in high school. A substantial majority of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly white, with meaningful representation of Hispanic and multiracial students. Specific data on English learner and special-education enrollment rates were not available.

State assessment results in this school are very low. In the most recent results available, English language arts proficiency across the school stood at about a fifth, and proficiency in mathematics was in the low single digits. Science proficiency was at zero. These results place the school in the bottom quartile for proficiency among Lake County's school districts. State testing data for the earliest grades were either suppressed due to small numbers or not yet available; results become reportable in grade seven and above, where the assessments show acute challenge. A parent considering this school should look into the school's pedagogical approach, support structure, and what outcomes the alternative model aims to serve, since standardized-assessment performance alone does not capture the mission of alternative education.

Lower Lake sits in a rural setting with a quiet, residential character, where most residents rent rather than own and the housing market has shown recent modest fluctuation. The town centers on a walkable historic Main Street with civic landmarks and small local businesses, though school facilities are located on separate Lake Street. Lake Transit provides regional bus connections, and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park lies just north. The school district voter-approved a facilities bond in November 2024 to support long-term campus improvements.

Konocti Unified, the parent district, has about ten districts across Lake County for comparison purposes. Information on the school's graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, course offerings, or staffing levels was not provided. Those are areas a parent would want to explore directly with the school.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=50%Cohort of 12 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

2,394 schools plotted. 142 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 76%

School 6% · District 7%

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 6% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 17% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 8% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median

This schoolKonocti 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.