San Juan Choices Charter, Sacramento CA

Original Research by School Decision on San Juan Choices Charter

San Juan Choices Charter is a small charter school in Sacramento that serves grades six through twelve, with an enrollment of just over two hundred and seventy students spread across middle and high school. The school draws from a fairly mixed student population: a slight majority are White, with meaningful representation of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students. About two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a moderate-need context for a Sacramento charter.

The academic picture is straightforward and concerning. On the most recent California state assessments in math, English language arts, and science, proficiency rates across the middle and high school grades are all substantially below where the state expects them to be. In English language arts, fewer than half of students in any grade tested met the state's proficiency standard, with sixth grade at the lowest end and seventh grade showing the strongest result. Math performance was markedly lower still, with fewer than one in three students proficient in any grade and sixth grade proficiency near single digits. Science results were similarly weak. This pattern places San Juan Choices Charter in the bottom quarter of schools in Sacramento County on overall proficiency, according to the county comparison dataset.

The school's small size is the most distinctive structural fact about it. The middle grades, particularly sixth grade, are tiny, with only a handful of students in each cohort. High school grades are larger and fuller, suggesting the school may function more as a high school program with attached middle grades. For families considering whether this fits their family, this means highly individualized attention in small classrooms, but it also means limited peer diversity within a given grade, few sections of core classes, and likely fewer electives and activity options than a traditional public school of any size. The charter status itself brings a different governance model and often different pedagogical choices, though the specific program philosophy is not provided in the data.

San Juan Unified, the district that authorizes this charter, is in the middle of significant structural changes. Voters approved a major facilities bond in November 2024 for classroom and infrastructure repair. The district also adopted a new strategic plan for 2024-2029 focused heavily on early literacy and grades three through eight math, and is implementing a new mathematics curriculum district-wide. These changes do not directly govern the charter, but they indicate the district context and the pressure on instruction across the region.

Housing in the Sacramento area, where the school is located, is moderately priced by California standards. Median home values and monthly rents are both stable. The area's unemployment rate is in the mid-single digits and median household income is solid, suggesting a working- and middle-class backdrop.

For a parent or resident evaluating this school, the critical question is whether the small size and charter approach offset the substantially below-grade-level test results. The data does not include graduation rates, attendance, discipline records, course offerings, or student support services, so a parent would need to speak directly with the school and district about those pieces. A parent may also want to look into further with the school what the results mean for instructional supports, how students are progressing year to year, and what academic recovery or intervention looks like.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

75-79%Cohort of 73 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

2,394 schools plotted. 142 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 68%

School 8% · District 27% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 30% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 25% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 41% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 38% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 26% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 51% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

This schoolSan Juan 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 6Lower-income23%Higher-income25%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income25%Higher-income54%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income41%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income8%Higher-income8%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income39%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income33%Higher-income6%27 pp gap