The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Montgomery Creek Elementary
Montgomery Creek Elementary serves kindergarten through eighth grade in a small, remote rural community in eastern Shasta County. The school sits along Highway 299 in the Cascade foothills, about halfway between Redding and Burney, in a landscape of pine forests and creeks. The community itself is unincorporated and sparse, with mostly single-family homes and manufactured houses on spacious lots. It began as a logging settlement in the late 1800s and remains quiet and tight-knit, with very limited local commerce.
The school's enrollment is small, with about mid-range numbers spread across nine grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the area. The student body is predominantly white, with notable populations of American Indian/Alaska Native students and Hispanic students; Asian, Black, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students are not represented in the enrollment. Data on English learners and special education enrollment was not available.
Academic performance data from California's 2024-25 assessments shows proficiency rates that are notably low. In the reported grades where results appear, sixth-grade mathematics proficiency was in the low teens and seventh-grade mathematics was in the high twenties; sixth-grade English language arts was around one in five students, while seventh-grade ELA reached about mid-forties. Results for third, fourth, fifth, and eighth grades were suppressed, likely due to small grade cohort sizes. Science assessment results were also suppressed. This pattern of suppression reflects the very small size of individual grade levels at the school, meaning that when a few students score well or poorly, the state does not publish their results to protect privacy. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts across Shasta County.
The school operates as a regular public school within the Mountain Union Elementary School District. A significant structural change is underway: Mountain Union is merging with the neighboring Whitmore Elementary School District to form a single consolidated entity after the spring 2026 semester. Both districts have experienced declining enrollment and view consolidation as a way to keep both schools operating and to pool resources. Existing schools and bus routes are expected to continue. A new five-member board will be elected in November 2026 to govern the merged district. Curricula between the two districts are already largely aligned.
The district has also invested in energy infrastructure at the Montgomery Creek campus, including solar facilities and a backup generator, to reduce reliance on PG&E and improve school reliability during wildfire-season power shutoffs, which have increased in frequency. For families in this mountain setting, where Public Safety Power Shutoff days can affect school operations, this investment addresses a real operational challenge.
Housing values in the 96065 ZIP code are below the state benchmark, reflecting the rural location and modest economic base. A parent may want to look into the district's plans for the merged entity and what that means for curriculum, staffing, and long-term programs, since consolidations of this scale can take time to fully implement.
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