C. Roy Carmichael Elementary, Portola CA

Original Research by School Decision on C. Roy Carmichael Elementary

C. Roy Carmichael Elementary is a small kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school in Portola, a mountain town in the Sierra Nevada where the Union Pacific Railroad and healthcare anchor the local economy. The school enrolls students across a spread of grade levels, with the student body reflective of Portola's demographics: a majority white student population, a substantial share of Hispanic and mixed-race students, and a very high share of families qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

Academic performance is weak across the board. In English Language Arts, proficiency rates range from around one in five students in grade five to about one in three in third and sixth grades. Math proficiency is similarly low, ranging from roughly one in seven in the upper grades to about four in ten in fourth grade. Science proficiency, measured only in fifth grade, sits at about one in five. These results suggest the school is working with significant academic challenges, and a parent may want to look into further detail with the school about what instructional supports, interventions, or staffing changes are in place to address the gap between where students are and state proficiency benchmarks.

The school's only year of available assessment data is the current year, so trend information is not available to show whether these results represent a shift or a stable pattern.

The school draws from Portola, a very small incorporated city in Plumas County and the only one in the county. The town's population is stable or declining; it is predominantly a residential, car-dependent mountain community with high homeownership, a notable retiree population, and strong ties to railroad and outdoor recreation heritage. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum, anchored on a large historic rail yard, is a major civic fixture. Housing values in the 96122 zip code are modest relative to California state benchmarks, and the estimated monthly mortgage is low. The broader Plumas Unified district, which serves Portola and surrounding communities, imposed new developer fees on all new construction countywide in late 2024, a factor that affects the cost of building or moving into the area. The district was also reshaped by the 2021 Dixie Fire, which destroyed the town of Greenville and displaced a charter school's elementary program to portable classrooms in Taylorsville, about ten miles away.

Specific enrollment, staffing, attendance, discipline, or program information for Carmichael Elementary was not available in the data provided. The school operates as a traditional public elementary school with no charter or magnet designation. A parent considering this school would want to gather more detail directly from Plumas Unified or the school itself about class sizes, special education services, English learner support, extracurricular offerings, and the school's approach to closing the academic gaps evident in the proficiency data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 34% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 34% · ▲ 3 pts above district

even with state median

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 22% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 614%

School 14% · District 19% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 40% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 37% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 34% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median

Science

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 24% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

This schoolPlumas 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-income16%Higher-income57%42 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income16%Higher-income33%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income31%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income9%Higher-income57%48 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income9%Higher-income27%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income10%Higher-income23%13 pp gap