Wright Charter, Santa Rosa CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Wright Charter

Wright Charter is a public charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Santa Rosa. The school sits in a mixed-character neighborhood on Price Avenue, with families from across the Santa Rosa area. The school serves primarily Hispanic students, about two-thirds of enrollment, with the remainder split among white, Asian, Black, and multiracial peers. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting economic diversity in the student body.

The academic picture shows widespread weakness across tested subjects. In math, proficiency rates range from low single digits in grades four and five to the low-to-mid twenties in grades three and seven. Across the school, math proficiency sits at about fifteen percent overall. English language arts shows somewhat more strength, with grades four and five reaching the high thirties to near fifty percent proficient, but lower grades three and six fall into the low twenties, and the school-wide proficiency is around thirty-four percent. Science proficiency, tested in grades five and eight, is similarly low at around thirteen to seventeen percent. When compared to other schools tested within Sonoma County school districts, Wright Charter's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile, a position indicating substantial distance from median performance across the county.

The student body across the grade span runs through eighth grade, though the district recently transitioned the original Wright school (which had operated as a charter serving TK-8) back to traditional public school status and narrowed it to grades TK-6 beginning with the 2025-26 school year. Wright Charter remains a separate charter entity. The school's enrollment is stable and roughly balanced across grades, with slightly larger groups in the lower elementary years.

The charter operates within Santa Rosa's economy and housing market. Santa Rosa itself is a mixed-character county seat with a downtown anchored by civic sites and a downtown core that blends historic and newer construction, though the city remains primarily car-dependent outside that center. The surrounding region is anchored by healthcare employment, with Kaiser Permanente, Sutter, and Providence hospitals as major employers, plus government and some tech manufacturing. Housing costs in the Santa Rosa zip code are moderate to high relative to national benchmarks, and rental costs have risen modestly in recent years. This shapes the families the school serves: many qualify for meal assistance, reflecting the economic reality of the service area.

The district approved Measure X, a facilities bond, in November 2024, which adds a lasting charge to property tax bills for district residents and commits to long-term improvements to aging classrooms and infrastructure. This signals investment in school facilities but also increases the tax burden for homeowners in the district.

A parent considering Wright Charter should note the substantial gap between its current test performance and the performance of peers across the county. The data was available only for the most recent school year, so trends over time are not visible. Parents may want to look further into what interventions or support structures the school has in place to address the proficiency levels, what curriculum choices drive instruction in math and science, and what family engagement or communication practices define the school's culture. The charter status means the school operates under a separate authorization and governance model from the traditional district schools, which can shape program flexibility and decision-making. Because no graduation rate applies to a K-8 school, readiness data points for transition to high school were not available to review.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 45% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 33% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 18% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 29% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 13%

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 43% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 47% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 50% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 734%

School 34% · District 34%

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 23% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

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

This schoolWright Elementary, 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 3Lower-income21%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income60%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income26%Higher-income58%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income18%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income5%Higher-income25%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income42%25 pp gap