Roy Cloud Elementary, Redwood City CA

Original Research by School Decision on Roy Cloud Elementary

Roy Cloud Elementary serves kindergarten through eighth grade in Redwood City, a mixed-use Peninsula city anchored by downtown transit, technology employment, and residential neighborhoods. The school enrolls a moderate-sized population drawn from a community that is predominantly white and Asian, with a smaller share of Hispanic and multiracial families, and a very small portion of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school sits in a neighborhood where housing values are substantial and rents continue to climb, reflective of Bay Area coastal real estate markets.

In math, Roy Cloud shows uneven performance across grades. Third and eighth graders score solidly, while fourth graders show weaker results, and fifth through seventh graders hover in the low-to-middle range. English language arts performance is similarly mixed, with fourth graders marking the lowest point and eighth graders performing significantly higher. Science results, available for fifth and eighth grade only, show fifth graders struggling and eighth graders performing at a moderate level. An older measure from social studies in eighth grade, from before the state shifted its testing framework, offers a historical reference but is not directly comparable to current data. No trend data spanning multiple years is available, making it difficult to assess whether performance is moving or static.

Across tested subjects and grades, Roy Cloud's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint among districts in San Mateo County, a positioning that reflects some relative strength in a fairly affluent county. The school's results are neither among the county's highest nor among the lowest, placing it in a middle band where families encounter mixed academic momentum across grade levels.

The school operates within the Redwood City Elementary School District, which faces material budget headwinds. A parcel tax measure failed in June, leaving the district's structural shortfall unaddressed. Expiring federal COVID-19 relief funding has forced staffing cuts, reductions in teaching positions, and an increase in combined (multi-grade) classes. Starting in the coming school year, elementary schools will have only a principal as the sole administrator, with assistant principals removed from campuses. These operational constraints directly shape class sizes and access to support staff.

On the positive side, voters approved a substantial facilities bond in 2022 that is funding multi-year capital improvements: HVAC systems, air conditioning, LED lighting, solar installations, and safety upgrades across school buildings. This work is underway and represents a commitment to long-term facility quality that families considering the school should know about.

Roy Cloud's peer group is predominantly white and relatively affluent, with minimal representation of lower-income families. English learner data and special education enrollment numbers were not available. Redwood City itself is in the midst of downtown-centered growth, with new housing, mixed-use development, and transit-oriented planning reshaping the city's core. This local context creates a stable, established community setting where the school has been a fixture for families in the area.

A parent considering Roy Cloud should anticipate mixed academic results across grades, with some grades performing notably stronger than others. The school's overall proficiency is respectable within its county context, but families may want to look into the specific grade-level performance in their child's subject areas more carefully and discuss classroom composition with the school given the increase in combined classes. The district's budget constraints are real and visible in staffing; the facilities bond offers some longer-term reassurance, but the parcel tax failure signals that additional local resources are not flowing into operations at this time.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 52% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 43% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 37% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 33% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 37% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Grade 874%

School 74% · District 37% · ▲ 37 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 47% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 46% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 48% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 46% · ▲ 22 pts above district

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

Grade 770%

School 70% · District 53% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 883%

School 83% · District 55% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 36% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 31% · ▲ 31 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 47% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolRedwood 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income78%61 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income77%50 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income42%Higher-income78%36 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income50%Higher-income91%41 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income71%46 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income9%Higher-income71%62 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income63%13 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income83%47 pp gap