Parkwood Elementary, Madera CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Parkwood Elementary

Parkwood Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Madera, a Central Valley city with deep agricultural and manufacturing roots. The school sits in the 93637 ZIP code area, where housing values reflect a modest market and rental affordability is moderate relative to the broader state.

The student body is nearly a thousand strong when counting all enrolled students across grades, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The population is heavily Hispanic; other racial and ethnic groups represent a much smaller share. Data on English learners and students with disabilities was not provided.

In state testing, Parkwood's students show proficiency rates that are well below the midpoint for schools in Madera County across both English language arts and math. In English language arts, students in grades three through six cluster around a third meeting state standards, with fifth and sixth grade slightly higher. In math, the picture is more challenging: third grade reaches the low forties, but grades four and five drop to the low twenties, recovering only modestly in sixth grade. A sample of fifth graders also took the state science test, and about a quarter met proficiency there. Only one year of testing data is available, so it is not yet possible to see whether these results are moving or stable.

Parkwood's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among Madera County's tested schools. A parent may want to look further into what supports the district is providing to address these results, how the school is structured to help students in the lower grades, and what conversations are happening with families about learning gains from home.

Madera Unified, the district that operates Parkwood, has recently adopted a Graduate Profile as a mandatory capstone for high school graduation starting with the class of 2025, meaning all students at every grade level will eventually work toward portfolio and presentation skills throughout their K-12 pathway. The district is also opening a new TK through eighth-grade building, King Husein School, in August 2026, which will serve the growing southwest part of the city and add capacity as Madera County experiences rapid housing development.

The city itself is growing quickly. Master-planned communities like Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo are expanding significantly, adding both residents and new schools. Valley Children's Hospital anchors the regional health-care sector, while farming, food processing, manufacturing, and logistics remain central to the local economy. Downtown Madera retains a walkable core with locally owned shops and parks; newer schools and employers are often on separated campuses. Spanish is widely spoken in residential neighborhoods.

Housing in the area is appreciating, with median home values and rents both rising in recent months, though they remain below the state benchmark. The local workforce faces typical Central Valley economic conditions: agriculture and food processing employ many, but also create wage and seasonal variability. For families at Parkwood, this is a neighborhood school in a district investing in new buildings and graduation standards, serving a community with strong family ties and Spanish-language roots, in a region experiencing substantial growth.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 33% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 24% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 19% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 23% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 332%

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

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 29% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 32% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 34% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 17% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

This schoolMadera 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.