Verde Elementary, Richmond CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Verde Elementary

Verde Elementary serves kindergarten through eighth grade in Richmond and sits at a moment of deep challenge in both its own performance and its parent district's acute fiscal pressure.

The academic picture is stark. In 2024-25, the school's proficiency rate in mathematics across tested grades was low in absolute terms, with most grade levels showing single-digit proficiency. English language arts fared similarly, with proficiency below two in hand across the grades tested. Science results, assessed in grades five and eight, showed minimal proficiency as well. Placed against the county's other districts, Verde ranks in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects.

This is not a school where students are arriving at grade level in core academics. A parent considering Verde should understand that the reading and math instruction her child receives will operate from a foundation where the vast majority of peers are not yet meeting state standards. The district has introduced the SIPPS supplemental reading program focused on phonics and foundational skills across all its elementary schools, including Verde, as part of a broader push toward science-of-reading instruction. That pedagogical shift is underway, but the proficiency numbers show the classroom reality remains one of significant academic need.

The enrollment is small and economically vulnerable. Verde has about three hundred forty students spread across nine grades, making it a genuinely intimate school. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, and a large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the neighborhood.

The district itself is in financial crisis. In December 2025, after the first teachers strike in West Contra Costa Unified's history, the district settled a contract that raised teacher pay and added employer-paid family health benefits. The settlement is estimated to cost far more than the district's budget can absorb alongside existing deficits. The response is a proposed district redesign that includes merging middle schools, converting some K-8 schools to elementary-only, and eliminating programs. This plan directly affects Verde: it is among five K-8 schools that would convert to elementary grades only. That means no middle school at Verde; eighth graders currently enrolled would need to transfer.

For a family at Verde, this redesign represents instability and change at a moment when the school is already struggling academically. Class sizes are expected to increase as part of the district's cost-cutting strategy. The elementary reading push via SIPPS is a genuine instructional effort, but it operates within severe resource constraints and against a backdrop of district retrenchment.

Verde is a neighborhood school with deep roots and real students and staff. But the data and the district's fiscal trajectory do not paint a picture of academic momentum or stability. A parent seeking a school should look at Verde with clear eyes about what the proficiency numbers mean for her child's daily classroom experience and what the district's announced changes will mean for the school's configuration and resources in the years ahead. Parents may want to speak directly with Verde's leadership about how the school is implementing the science-of-reading approach, what support is available to students who arrive below grade level, and how the school is managing the uncertainty around the proposed redesign.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 36%

School 6% · District 34% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 43%

School 3% · District 30% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 23% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 27% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 85%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 36%

School 6% · District 30% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 43%

School 3% · District 31% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 32% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 35% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 34% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 29% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 23% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 18% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

This schoolWest Contra Costa 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.