Alicia Reyes Elementary, Merced CA

Original Research by School Decision on Alicia Reyes Elementary

Alicia Reyes Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Merced, a small Central Valley city anchored by UC Merced and a historic downtown. The school sits within Merced City School District, which operates eighteen schools across the city and has undergone significant transitions recently: a major school boundary realignment begun in the 2025-26 school year, followed by sixth-grade relocation back to middle schools in 2026-27, along with a district-wide facilities bond approved by voters in November 2024 to modernize all campuses over roughly the next decade.

The school is a regular public elementary campus with an enrollment of roughly mid-sized, drawing a student body that is almost entirely economically disadvantaged and Latino. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. The majority of students are Latino, with smaller shares of Asian, Black, and white students, and a very small number of Native Hawaiian and American Indian students in the school's enrollment. Data on special education and English learner populations were not available from the state's reporting.

Academic proficiency at Alicia Reyes is very low across tested grades and subjects. In English language arts, third graders show proficiency in the low teens, with fourth graders similar; fifth and sixth graders show higher proficiency but still in the low twenties. Math proficiency is even more challenged, tracking in the single digits through sixth grade, with proficiency rates in the low teens for third through fifth grade and dropping to single digits by sixth grade. The school's only science assessment data, from fifth grade, also shows proficiency in the low teens. Across the school's tested population, the combined proficiency index places Alicia Reyes in the bottom quartile of Merced County districts.

The school serves a population with substantial material hardship. Families face a housing environment in Merced where home prices are relatively modest compared to many California locales but where rent-to-income ratios exceed one quarter of household earnings, a tightness that reflects broader Central Valley affordability strain. The district's recent boundary reorganization may bring change to this school's enrollment composition in coming years, depending on whether Alicia Reyes is among the schools affected by the new elementary boundaries taking effect in 2025-26. A parent considering this school may want to look into the school's specific role in the boundary changes and what that means for stable peer groups and school-level planning.

The very low proficiency rates reflect both the high-need population the school serves and what appears to be significant academic challenge at the school itself. State testing data carries only one year, so longer-term trends are not visible; whether recent assessment scores represent stable conditions or a point in a trajectory is unclear. A parent would benefit from direct conversation with the school about its academic supports, intervention programs, curriculum approach, and staff stability, as well as asking whether the boundary transitions create uncertainty that might affect resource allocation or instructional focus in the near term.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 32% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 411%

School 11% · District 24% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 19% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 18% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 30% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 32% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 37% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 36% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 22% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolMerced City 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.