The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Math. The lowest is 38% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on First Street Elementary
First Street Elementary sits on a residential street in Lincoln, a fast-growing Placer County city roughly thirty miles northeast of Sacramento. Lincoln has expanded dramatically over recent decades through a series of master-planned villages and the Twelve Bridges development area, and that growth has brought a wave of younger families into a city that already had a strong residential identity. The school itself is a kindergarten through fifth-grade regular public school within the Western Placer Unified School District.
The enrollment picture tells part of the story. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this school's economic profile on the more economically stressed side for Placer County. Hispanic students make up well over half the school's population, with white students forming the second-largest group and smaller numbers of students from other backgrounds. Data on English learner enrollment and special education rates were not available in what was provided.
On the California state assessments, results from the most recent year are mixed. In third grade, roughly four in ten students reached proficiency in math, and fewer than four in ten did so in English language arts. By fourth grade those numbers improve, with just over half reaching proficiency in both subjects. Fifth grade pulls back somewhat, with math and ELA proficiency both falling below that fourth-grade peak, and fifth-grade science sitting below four in ten. Across all tested grades combined, the school's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint among the districts in Placer County, based on that comparison set. That's the honest read of the data. Parents who want to dig into how the school is working with its specific population, what instructional supports are in place for students who are still working toward grade level, and whether trends are moving in a positive direction should ask those questions directly of the school, since only a single year of data was available here and no trend line can be drawn.
The school shows no Title I designation in the data provided, though that field was listed as not reported rather than confirmed negative. Whether any federally funded support programs operate at the school is a question worth posing directly.
The district's own story is worth noting for families thinking about Lincoln broadly. Western Placer Unified opened Twelve Bridges High School in 2021, the first new comprehensive high school in Lincoln in a very long time, publicly reported as serving the city's growing student population. That's a real structural addition for families now in elementary school who are weighing where their children will eventually land. The district has also seen three consecutive failed facilities bond measures, meaning planned upgrades and amenities have stayed unfunded despite the growth in student enrollment. That combination of a new high school built on prior bond authority alongside repeated failures on newer bond measures shapes what facilities investment looks like going forward.
Lincoln itself is car-dependent in most areas, though its historic downtown registers as quite walkable in a compact zone with local shops and a farmers market. The broader city is organized around a village concept that places commercial nodes near residential clusters, with bike and pedestrian trails connecting them. Placer County Transit connects the area to Sierra College in Rocklin, and the public library is located near Twelve Bridges High School rather than in the historic core. Thunder Valley Casino Resort is the dominant local employer.
Housing in the Lincoln zip code is priced well below the California statewide benchmark, though still well above the national median. Rent has been climbing, and the ratio of rent to income sits at a level that leaves limited slack for many households. The school's demographics suggest that housing cost pressure is a real presence in its families' lives.
For a parent considering First Street Elementary, this is a neighborhood school in a rapidly growing, family-oriented city, serving a predominantly Hispanic, economically mixed student body. Academic results are below the county midpoint, and a parent would do well to ask what specific instructional strategies and support systems are at work for the students who are still developing grade-level skills.
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