The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in English language arts. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Tompkins Elementary
Tompkins Elementary is a public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Tehachapi, a small town in the high desert of eastern Kern County that describes itself as one of California's fastest-growing small towns. The school sits on the southern edge of the city near Warrior Park, in the path of new residential development including the Tehachapi Hills subdivision, which means the school serves a growing base of younger families moving into the area.
The school enrolls students of mixed backgrounds. About half qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting moderate economic pressure on the families served. The enrollment is roughly evenly distributed across the six grades, with a slight dip in the third and fifth grade cohorts. Roughly half the students are Hispanic, and about two-fifths are white, with small shares of Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, and multiracial students. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available.
State testing results from the most recent year show consistently low proficiency across math and English language arts, with performance generally below the midpoint among Kern County districts. In math, third-grade students showed the highest proficiency rate among the tested grades, though still modest; fourth grade showed the lowest performance. In English language arts, fifth graders performed better than younger grades, though proficiency remained below half of the tested group. Science proficiency at fifth grade, the only grade tested in that subject, also fell in the lower half. The school has only one year of recent state testing data available, so trends cannot yet be measured. A parent may want to look into the school's reading and math support programs, recent curriculum changes including the district's adoption of the Zaner-Bloser handwriting curriculum for elementary grades, and any tutoring or intervention options available for students who need additional help.
Tehachapi itself is a town of mixed character. Downtown centers on a walkable core along Tehachapi Boulevard with historic buildings, local shops and restaurants, the renovated train depot, and regular rail traffic. The wider valley mixes residential neighborhoods and newer subdivisions with agriculture, vineyards, and ranches. The town's economy draws on state corrections, renewable energy, aerospace and technical work, retail, and agriculture. Housing values in the area have remained relatively stable, and rents are modest for California, though mortgage payments remain a significant share of household income. Families moving to Tompkins Elementary tend to be settling in newer subdivisions like Tehachapi Hills rather than the historic downtown, and the school's location on the city's growing edge reflects that pattern. The area offers city parks, a county library branch, and Kern Transit service, though private vehicles remain the dominant form of transportation.
The Tehachapi Unified School District that operates Tompkins serves a territory spanning roughly a three-hundred-square-mile area with multiple elementary schools distributed across the valley. The district changed from at-large to by-trustee-area board elections in 2022, a change that affects how parents participate in school governance: a parent now votes only for the one board member in their trustee area rather than for all seven seats. The district adopted the Zaner-Bloser handwriting curriculum across elementary grades in 2024, a systematic approach to manuscript and cursive instruction.
Tompkins is a regular public elementary school with no special program designation. It is part of the broader Kern County public education ecosystem, where the school's proficiency levels place it above the midpoint among the county's districts on the combined proficiency measure. For families considering the area, Tompkins offers a neighborhood elementary option in a growing part of town, though the current state test results suggest that academic support and family engagement in reading and mathematics would be important factors to understand directly with the school.
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