Madrone Elementary, Santa Rosa CA

Original Research by School Decision on Madrone Elementary

Madrone Elementary is a kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school in Santa Rosa that sits within Rincon Valley Union Elementary, serving a student population about evenly split between Hispanic and white students, with roughly half of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls a modest number of students across its grade bands, with the largest cohorts in fourth and sixth grade.

Santa Rosa is a mixed urban and residential city, the county seat of Sonoma County. The downtown core is walkable and anchored by galleries, restaurants, and civic landmarks like the renovated Courthouse Square, but most of the city is car-dependent. Neighborhoods range from West End lofts popular with young professionals to the Oakmont Village retirement community. Civic life benefits from an eastern park system that links city green space to regional trails and a state park, and SMART commuter rail connects the downtown station south to Larkspur and north through surrounding towns. Housing prices are high, and the city is directing growth inward through infill and downtown residential development rather than outward expansion.

On recent state testing, Madrone's proficiency in math and English language arts trails the midpoint for districts across Sonoma County. In English language arts, third graders perform closest to meeting state standards, but proficiency declines in the upper grades, falling substantially by fifth and sixth grade. Math shows a similar pattern, with stronger performance in third and fourth grade and steeper drops in fifth and sixth. Science proficiency in fifth grade is also in the lower range. This grade-level downward trend may reflect growing content complexity, cumulative skill gaps, or teaching and support needs as students progress through the elementary years; a parent may want to look into what supports the school offers to students who fall behind and what the school's approach is to these upper-grade challenges. The school is small enough that individual classroom or teacher dynamics could shape the experience noticeably.

The district recently adopted i-Ready Classroom Mathematics as its new K-8 curriculum, a district-wide instructional change affecting all mathematics teaching and learning. This represents a meaningful shift in how math is taught and which materials students use, potentially opening new pathways for students who struggled under prior materials, though the impact will unfold over time.

State testing data does not distinguish special education or English learner subgroups at this school, so a parent interested in how the school serves students with disabilities or English learners specifically should ask the school directly about those populations and their outcomes. No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing was available to assess school climate or resource adequacy.

The school's location on Rinconada Drive places it in a residential part of Santa Rosa where most daily activities require a car. Families in this area are typically suburban-oriented and may have access to the regional park system nearby.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 55% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 55% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 33% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 46% · ▼ 15 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 53% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 54% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 48% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 54% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 35% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolRincon Valley 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-income50%Higher-income50%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income77%42 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income59%36 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income20%Higher-income46%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income83%33 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income77%37 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income9%Higher-income41%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income17%Higher-income46%29 pp gap