Pescadero Elementary and Middle, Pescadero CA

Original Research by School Decision on Pescadero Elementary and Middle

Pescadero Elementary and Middle is a small, rural coastal school serving kindergarten through grade eight in San Mateo County. The school enrolls a modest population with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, and about half the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school sits in and near the compact downtown of Pescadero, a working agricultural community where most local employment centers on farming and ranching.

The academic picture shows mixed performance across tested grades. In English language arts, students in grade three perform at a mid-range level, and seventh grade shows stronger proficiency. Eighth grade performance in ELA is lower. Mathematics shows a more challenging pattern: third graders reach a modest proficiency rate, but performance drops significantly by seventh and eighth grades, with eighth grade proficiency quite low. For science, eighth grade proficiency is also modest. Testing data for several middle grades is suppressed, likely due to small cohort sizes, which is typical for a school of this enrollment at the elementary-middle transition.

When compared to other districts in San Mateo County, Pescadero Elementary and Middle's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile, meaning test results lag behind most other school settings in the county. The school has had only one year of recent statewide test data available, so trend analysis is not yet possible; a parent may want to check with the school directly about how performance has moved over time.

The school serves a community with significant economic challenges. Housing values in the Pescadero area are quite high, a reflection of the wider Bay Area market, yet the local economy relies heavily on farm and ranch work, creating an economic mismatch. Nonprofits play a central role in supporting residents; recent initiatives have focused on preserving and creating farmworker housing. The town itself has grown very little for decades, constrained by surrounding protected open space, though that open space provides substantial parks and trails for recreation.

Pescadero is isolated: public transit is minimal, and the town lies several miles inland from Highway 1. Families here are choosing a rural, small-school setting with deep community ties to agriculture and conservation. The school's small size and enrollment composition reflect the makeup of the immediate area. A parent considering this school should understand that it serves a working-class community in a high-cost region, that current academic proficiency is below the county average, and that the school draws students who are mostly local to Pescadero and its immediate surroundings.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 42% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 50% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Science

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Social studies

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 49 pts below county median

This schoolLa Honda-Pescadero 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 7Lower-income58%Higher-income64%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income42%Higher-income36%5 pp gap