Montague Elementary, Montague CA

Original Research by School Decision on Montague Elementary

Montague Elementary is a small K-8 public school in a quiet, family-oriented city in the Shasta Valley of far northern California. The school sits within a compact two-square-mile downtown and serves the town of Montague as its only public school. The school itself has roughly a mid-sized enrollment for a rural K-8, with a fairly stable student population across the grade span and a kindergarten cohort slightly larger than the upper grades.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, American Indian Alaska Native, Black, and Asian students. About three-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a sign of economic strain in the community. Data on English learner and special education populations was not available.

On state testing in math and English language arts, Montague Elementary's performance is below the state baseline across most grade levels. In English language arts, proficiency starts very low in third grade and improves notably by fifth grade, dipping again in seventh grade before rising in eighth. Math proficiency is similarly uneven, climbing from third through sixth grade, jumping sharply to a higher level in seventh grade, then dropping in eighth. Science proficiency in fifth and eighth grades sits in the low-to-mid range. These patterns suggest grade-level variability rather than a single schoolwide trend. The school's overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint relative to districts in Siskiyou County, a meaningful strength in a rural region where proficiency averages run lower than state norms.

The community itself is flat to declining in population, with little growth expected in coming decades. Most residents own their homes, work in manufacturing, retail, or health care, and commute by car; walkable amenities include a downtown main street with shops and eateries, plus parks, ballfields, a pool, and library. The nearest larger town, Yreka, lies a short distance away and serves as the county seat. Housing values in the area are modest relative to the state and national benchmarks, making the town affordable for families seeking a small-town environment.

The school offers athletics including basketball, volleyball, track and field, and cheerleading. Data on course offerings, arts programs, or specialized curriculum was not available. District change documentation shows no recent major shifts in bonds, taxes, or pedagogy.

A parent may want to look into the school's specific supports and instructional strategies in literacy, particularly in third grade and seventh grade where proficiency dips notably. This would be a useful conversation to have with school staff about targeted reading intervention and about how the school approaches the transition to middle school grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 34%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 38%

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

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

This schoolMontague 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.