Elementary Schools in Bakersfield City

The Bakersfield City school district in California contains 34 elementary schools serving grades K-6 or K-8, with student populations ranging from 32 to 1,032. The district as a whole is ranked 1338 out of 1568 in California and is rated 1 star out of 5 by SchoolDigger, indicating significant challenges across the system.

A few schools stand out as high-performers, including Cesar E. Chavez Elementary, ranked 1419 out of 5862 California elementary schools and rated 4 out of 5 stars, and Downtown Elementary, ranked 1284 out of 5862 and also rated 4 stars. These schools demonstrate significantly higher test scores across all subjects and grade levels compared to the district and state averages. In contrast, schools like Williams Elementary and Mt. Vernon Elementary have consistently low performance, indicating a need for comprehensive support and improvement efforts.

Concerning trends across the Bakersfield City elementary schools include high chronic absenteeism rates, with many schools over 30%, and wide disparities in test score proficiency, ranging from 10.96% to 61.73% in 3rd grade English Language Arts. Additionally, the majority of schools have very high free/reduced lunch rates, over 90%, suggesting significant economic disadvantage among the student populations. Addressing these systemic issues and inequities will be crucial for driving meaningful improvements across the district.