Twain Harte, Twain Harte CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Twain Harte

Twain Harte School sits on Manzanita Drive in the small unincorporated Sierra Nevada foothill community of the same name, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It is the only school in town, which means for families living here, this is simply where your children go until high school. That single-school reality shapes the whole K-8 experience: the peer group is the community.

The community itself is worth understanding before the school. Twain Harte is a mountain residential and recreational place in Tuolumne County, about eleven miles east of Sonora. A meaningful share of its population is seasonal, the year-round demographic skews older, and many local businesses operate on a tourist economy that quiets considerably off-season. The town has a compact, walkable village core with a market, shops, and restaurants, but beyond that it is a forested, low-density area of homes and cabins. A county transit route connects Twain Harte to Sonora and Columbia College on weekdays with limited Saturday service. Housing here runs well below statewide California prices, though it sits notably above the national median, and values have edged down slightly over the past year. Rental data was not available in what we reviewed. The proposed redevelopment of the local shopping center to add several dozen apartments signals some housing growth pressure, though that project was still in a planning and approval phase as of the latest reporting.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed and worth examining closely. In English language arts, the school performs above the midpoint relative to districts in Tuolumne County on the overall proficiency index, which is a genuine positive in context. ELA proficiency in third grade and fifth grade reaches roughly half of students or above, and eighth grade is in a similar range. Fourth and seventh grade ELA results are weaker, sitting below half. Math tells a more uneven story: third grade proficiency reaches about three in five students, which is the school's strongest result, but fifth and seventh grade math proficiency is quite low, with fewer than one in five students meeting the standard. Sixth and eighth grade math land in a middle range. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grade under California's CAST assessment, are below half at both tested levels, with fifth grade particularly low. Multi-year trend data was limited to a single year, so it is not possible from this data to say whether these results are improving, declining, or holding steady. A parent who wants to understand the school's trajectory on these subjects would do well to ask the school directly.

Roughly half of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a substantial economically disadvantaged population. The school is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up roughly a quarter of enrollment, and small numbers from other groups. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed, which is a gap worth raising with the school if those programs matter for your child. Chronic absenteeism data was also not reported here.

Because Twain Harte School ends at eighth grade, the high school pathway leads to the Summerville Union High School District, which serves this community along with others in the area. In November 2024, voters defeated a general obligation bond measure that would have funded facility modernization and renovation at that high school. The measure fell short of the required supermajority. For families thinking ahead, that means the high school's existing facilities will not receive this planned round of upgrades, at least not through this mechanism. The proposed tax levy was also avoided. Whether the district pursues other funding routes is something families would need to track separately.

The one publicly reported extracurricular program in the data is wrestling. No information on additional program offerings, AP or dual-enrollment pathways, staffing ratios, or attendance patterns was available, which reflects both the school's K-8 grade band and gaps in what was reported.

For a family moving to Twain Harte, this school is the local K-8 option within a tight-knit, seasonally variable mountain community. ELA performance compares reasonably well within the county, math results are uneven across grades and lower in several spots, and a parent may want to ask the school specifically about supports in those grades where proficiency rates are low.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

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

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 42%

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

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 18%

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

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

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

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

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

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 35%

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

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

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

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

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

This schoolTwain Harte, 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 5Lower-income56%Higher-income50%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income35%13 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income56%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income25%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income13%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income44%4 pp gap