Cleveland Elementary, Stockton CA

Original Research by School Decision on Cleveland Elementary

Cleveland Elementary sits on East Fulton Street in central Stockton, a city in California's San Joaquin Valley that functions as both an agricultural processing hub and a growing logistics center. The surrounding neighborhood reflects Stockton's mixed urban texture: a historic downtown core nearby, residential streets of varying density, and a city actively investing in walkability improvements downtown. Public transit options exist, though the city is largely car-dependent outside its central corridors. Home values in this part of Stockton sit well below the California statewide benchmark, closer to the national midpoint, and have edged slightly downward year over year. Rents have been essentially flat. For families considering a move, the affordability relative to the Bay Area is real, and the district carries a voter-approved bond obligation that funds facility upgrades but also adds a long-term property-tax cost.

The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, making it one of the less common K-8 configurations. Enrollment is on the larger side for that grade span. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Asian and Black students making up meaningful shares as well. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic context of the surrounding neighborhood. Data on English learner rates and special education enrollment were not available in what was provided.

On the California state assessments, proficiency in reading and language arts climbs noticeably as students move into the upper grades. Early elementary grades score in the low-to-mid twenties as a share proficient, while seventh and eighth graders reach the mid-to-upper forties in ELA. That trajectory is worth attention: something is working as students move through the building in literacy. Math tells a different story. Proficiency rates across all tested grades remain in roughly the low-to-mid twenties, with seventh grade the lone exception at a slightly higher rate. Science proficiency, tested at fifth and eighth grade, falls below the math results at eighth grade in particular. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among districts in San Joaquin County, though it is worth noting that comparison is drawn against districts, not individual schools, and Cleveland's upper-grade ELA results sit meaningfully above the lower-grade averages that pull the composite down. Parents focused on math readiness heading into high school will want to ask the school directly about supports and how students are prepared for algebra.

Trend data is limited to a single year, so it is not possible to say from this data alone whether scores have been rising, falling, or holding steady. The district as a whole publicly reported gains in early-grade reading after adopting a structured-literacy phonics program called SIPPS, and that curriculum shift directly affects how younger Cleveland students are taught to read. Whether that shows up in future third-grade scores is something to watch.

The district's current three-year plan publicly lists raising academic achievement and improving conditions specifically for Black students and students with disabilities as named priorities, shaped by an equity audit. A new cell phone policy took effect in the current school year limiting device use during the school day, a practical daily-life change for middle schoolers in grades six through eight.

No information was available about specific programs at Cleveland itself, such as arts, enrichment, sports, or after-school offerings. The district profile and web research also did not surface staffing ratios, attendance or chronic absenteeism rates for this school, or discipline data. A parent would be well served by asking the school directly about those conditions, particularly given that chronic absenteeism can weigh heavily on outcomes in high-poverty urban schools and the data here simply was not reported.

What the data does show is a school with a distinctive grade span, a clear upward ELA arc across grades, persistent math gaps, a largely low-income student population, and a district in the middle of several curriculum and policy changes. Whether this fits a family depends heavily on their child's grade, their priorities in math versus literacy, and what they learn from the school about supports for their specific child.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 27% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 21% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 14% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 17% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 731%

School 31% · District 19% · ▲ 11 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 19% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 24% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 24%

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

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 25% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 28% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 31% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 34% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 15% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 15% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 23% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolStockton 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.