Alturas Elementary, Alturas CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Alturas Elementary

Alturas Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in a small rural county seat in northeastern California. The school's setting is the heart of Modoc County, where the town and county are essentially a single tight-knit community surrounded by high plains, ranch country, and mountain views.

The school's academic performance, based on the most recent state testing data available, shows below-grade proficiency across mathematics, English language arts, and science. In mathematics, students in grades three through five showed proficiency rates in the low range. English language arts results were similarly modest across those grades. Science proficiency in grade five was low. These results reflect a school facing real academic headwinds, and a parent may want to look into further with the school what targeted support is in place and how the school is approaching improvement.

The student body is economically challenged. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Student composition is predominantly White, with a meaningful Hispanic population and a small but notable American Indian presence, along with smaller numbers of students of other backgrounds. The school has a small enrollment for an elementary school, distributed fairly evenly across its grade bands.

Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners was not provided, so the extent of specialized services or language support cannot be assessed from the available information. School discipline and attendance data were also not available.

Alturas itself is a declining town. The population has drifted downward over recent years and continues a slow decline. Housing is affordable compared to California's state benchmark, with median home values well below the state average, reflecting both the rural setting and the town's lack of growth pressure. The local economy rests on health care anchored by a critical access hospital, county government functions, and the underlying agricultural and outdoor recreation base. Daily life is car-oriented, though the town has a modest walkable downtown core with local shops, restaurants, and civic institutions like the Modoc County Library.

The school is part of Modoc Joint Unified School District. No recent large policy or curriculum changes in the district were identified in available sources, so the district's current strategic direction and priorities could not be assessed.

For a family in Alturas, Alturas Elementary is the neighborhood elementary school in a small, stable rural community. The school's academic results are currently weak and warrant direct conversation with school leadership about instructional priorities and support. The town offers an outdoors-oriented, genuinely rural way of life with low housing costs and tight community ties, but little economic growth and limited job diversity beyond health care and government work.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 30%

even with state median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 3 pts below state median

This schoolModoc Joint 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-income29%Higher-income25%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income41%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income50%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income27%Higher-income25%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income46%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income44%21 pp gap