Best Elementary Schools in Cottonwood, CA

The city of Cottonwood, California is home to three elementary schools serving grades K-8: Evergreen Elementary, North Cottonwood, and Cottonwood Creek Charter. While the traditional public schools, Evergreen Elementary and North Cottonwood, have similar student demographics and academic performance, Cottonwood Creek Charter stands out as the highest-performing school in the area.

Cottonwood Creek Charter, a public charter school, boasts exceptional academic results, with students significantly outperforming state averages on Smarter Balanced Assessments for English Language Arts and Mathematics across all grade levels. For example, 88.89% of 5th graders at Cottonwood Creek Charter are proficient or better in ELA, compared to the state average of 46.69%. The school also has a lower chronic absenteeism rate of 3.8%, compared to 24.8% at North Cottonwood and 26.0% at Evergreen Elementary. Additionally, Cottonwood Creek Charter has a higher statewide ranking, placing 494 out of 5,848 California elementary schools and receiving a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger.

In contrast, Evergreen Elementary and North Cottonwood have similar academic performance, generally scoring around the state averages or slightly above on state assessments. North Cottonwood, however, has a slightly higher district ranking and rating from SchoolDigger, suggesting it may be the stronger of the two traditional public schools in the area. The demographic differences between Cottonwood Creek Charter and the other two schools, such as a higher percentage of White students and a lower percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, may contribute to the charter school's strong academic outcomes.