Rescue Elementary, Rescue CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Rescue Elementary

Rescue Elementary serves a rural Sierra foothills community in the foothill country of El Dorado County, about a half-hour east of Sacramento. The school enrolls a small to mid-sized population across kindergarten through fifth grade, drawing from an area defined by farmland, vineyards, ranches, and expanding residential neighborhoods scattered across rolling oak-studded hills. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and single-digit numbers of other racial and ethnic groups. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a mixed economic context where many households are stable but not uniformly affluent.

The housing market in the Rescue zip code runs well above state median home values, a reflection of the foothill location, rural character, and proximity to Sacramento. Home prices have remained relatively steady despite broader market volatility. The area is experiencing significant development pressure, with new residential subdivisions and larger mixed-use projects under planning or construction, particularly along the Bass Lake Road corridor. This growth trajectory means Rescue Elementary may see enrollment shifts tied to the arrival of new families to the area.

On state assessments, Rescue Elementary's proficiency picture is mixed by grade level. In third grade, the school performs solidly in math and reasonably well in English language arts. By fourth grade, both subjects dip somewhat, and in fifth grade the decline becomes more pronounced, especially in math. In English language arts fifth graders perform better than their fourth-grade peers, suggesting variation in how well the school serves each grade cohort. The school's overall proficiency index across all tested grades and subjects places it in the top quartile among the county's tested elementary schools, a position worth noting given that rural foothills schools often sit lower in district comparisons. Science results, available only for fifth grade, show the school below the proficiency midpoint.

The pattern suggests strengths in early elementary literacy and early-grade math, with a need to examine instruction in upper elementary, particularly in mathematics. A parent might want to discuss with school leadership what happens to students as they move into fourth and fifth grade, whether the school has identified the source of the proficiency dip, and what strategies are in place to reverse it.

The school is situated in an unincorporated, low-density rural setting with little commercial activity and no walkable town center. Civic life is organized around a small downtown consisting of a post office, fire station, two churches, and a community center; the rest is spread-out residential and agricultural land. Schools sit on separated campuses rather than in a downtown neighborhood, and residents generally commute some distance to jobs, many traveling to Sacramento or regional employment centers in El Dorado County. The area is not served by direct public transit; parents rely on private vehicle transport. This setting offers a quiet, outdoorsy rural character and smaller-school community feel, but comes with the tradeoff of minimal walkability and dependence on driving for most daily activities.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 74% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 72% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 65% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 70% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 71% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 76%

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

Science

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 58% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

This schoolRescue Union 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 3Lower-income57%Higher-income77%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income73%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income80%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income85%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income75%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income57%5 pp gap