Ripona Elementary, Ripon CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ripona Elementary

Ripona Elementary is a school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Ripon, a small agricultural city in San Joaquin County. The enrollment is modest, distributed fairly evenly across grade levels, with a student body that is majority Hispanic and a substantial share qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. About two-thirds of students are white or Asian; the demographic profile reflects both the agricultural heritage and the working families that populate the city.

The school's academic picture shows mixed performance with notable grade-level variability. In English language arts, results span from below half to near or above two-thirds proficient across the tested grades, with middle grades (six and seven) performing relatively stronger. Math proficiency is more scattered: third grade sits near two-thirds proficient, but fourth and fifth grades see sharp drops, with fifth grade particularly low. By sixth and seventh grades performance recovers somewhat, before falling again at eighth. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, sits well below half in both. These patterns suggest students experience turbulence in upper elementary and early middle school math especially, with uneven recovery in the middle grades. A parent may want to look into how the school addresses the transitions between grade levels and whether targeted support exists for students who struggle with particular subjects.

State testing data now spans only the most recent school year, so multi-year trend information is not yet available to show whether these results reflect long-standing patterns or recent shifts. The school does not report separate proficiency rates by race, ethnicity, or English learner status, so the aggregate figures shown here mask variation in how different student groups are performing.

Ripona Elementary sits within Ripon Unified, a district facing infrastructure headwinds. In November 2024, voters rejected a major bond measure that would have funded facility modernization, replacement of portable classrooms, and technology upgrades. Some district buildings are decades old, and that shortfall remains active context for families considering the school environment. The district is also navigating the state mandate to change Ripon High School's long-standing Native American mascot by July 2026, a visible identity shift for the district's only high school.

Ripon itself is a small, family-oriented bedroom community known as the Almond Capital, surrounded by farmland and oriented toward agriculture. Housing values are moderate relative to state benchmarks, and the market is volatile; the for-sale median has moved down sharply year-over-year. The city has an accessible downtown with a library branch and small retail, though everyday shopping often draws residents to nearby Modesto. Parks, trails, and a community pool co-managed with the school district provide recreation. Growth is managed but steady, with new housing developments continuing to add students to the district.

The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among schools in San Joaquin County, a position that reflects its relatively stronger ELA results balanced against its science and variable math performance. For a family considering Ripona Elementary, the tradeoffs are clear: a small, community-rooted school in a family-friendly town with moderate housing costs and accessible amenities, but with academic performance that is uneven and infrastructure constraints the district is currently unable to address.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 62% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 52% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 41% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 660%

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

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 757%

School 57% · District 58%

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 57% · ▼ 29 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 55% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 51% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 60% · ▼ 30 pts below district

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

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 67% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 73% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 69% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 39% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 49% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 61% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

This schoolRipon 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-income37%Higher-income81%44 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income27%Higher-income35%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income35%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income53%Higher-income77%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income59%Higher-income88%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income58%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income69%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income48%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income4%Higher-income19%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income77%48 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income71%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income27%3 pp gap