Is Gretchen Higgins Elementary a good school?

Gretchen Higgins Elementary ranks in the bottom 24.4% of California elementary schools.

How many students attend Gretchen Higgins Elementary?

In the 2022-23 school year, 373 students attended Gretchen Higgins Elementary.

What is the racial makeup of Gretchen Higgins Elementary?

Students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary are 66% Hispanic, 21% White, 9% Two or more races, 3% African American, 1% Asian.

Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Summary:

Gretchen Higgins Elementary is a public elementary school located in Dixon, California, serving grades K-5 with a total enrollment of 373 students. The school is part of the Dixon Unified School District, which is ranked 1108 out of 1568 districts in California and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Gretchen Higgins Elementary consistently ranks in the bottom half of California elementary schools, with a ranking between 3,648 and 4,475 out of around 5,800 schools over the past several years. The school's performance on Smarter Balanced Assessments is significantly below the state and district averages across all grade levels and subject areas, with only 26.27% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts in 2023-2024, compared to 34.69% for the district and 47.04% for the state. Additionally, Gretchen Higgins Elementary has experienced a significant increase in chronic absenteeism, rising from 8.0% in 2017-2018 to 51.0% in 2020-2021, and even in the most recent year (2022-2023), the school's chronic absenteeism rate was 27.5%, much higher than the state average. The school also serves a disadvantaged population, with 57.64% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in 2022-2023.

Compared to nearby schools in the same district, such as Anderson (Linford L.) Elementary and Tremont Elementary, Gretchen Higgins Elementary performs significantly worse on academic measures, with lower proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The school also lags behind high-performing schools in the neighboring Davis Unified School District, such as Birch Lane Elementary, Cesar Chavez Elementary, and Robert E. Willett Elementary, which have significantly higher proficiency rates in these subjects.

Detail:

Public K-5

1525 Pembroke Way
Dixon, CA 95620-4115

(707) 693-6380

District: Dixon Unified

SchoolDigger Rank:
4433^rd of 5,862 California Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $6,866

Student/teacher ratio: 26.0

Number of students: 373

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:

66.0%

White:

20.9%

Two or more races:

8.6%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 57.6%

See top rated California elementary schools

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Performance Trends

Compare Details Gretchen Higgins Elementary ranks worse than 75.6% of elementary schools in California. It also ranks last among 3 ranked elementary schools in the Dixon Unified School District. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 24.24. (See more...)

Chronic absenteeism in a school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

Compare Details Gretchen Higgins Elementary has the smallest elementary school student body size in the Dixon Unified School District. Racial makeup is: Hispanic (66%), White (20.9%), two or more races (8.6%). (See more...)

Compare Details 57.6% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)

Compare Details (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Gretchen Higgins Elementary is 26, which is the highest among 3 elementary schools in the Dixon Unified School District! (See more...)

Compare Gretchen Higgins Elementary employs 14.3 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Gretchen Higgins Elementary is $6,866, which is the highest among 3 elementary schools in the Dixon Unified School District!

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Gretchen Higgins Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Gretchen Higgins Elementary 4433^rd of 5862 California public elementary schools. (See Gretchen Higgins Elementary in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

English Language Learner students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Hispanic students:

White students:

Dixon Unified:

SchoolDigger ranks Dixon Unified 1108^th of 1568 California school districts. (See district ranking list.)

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Rank History for Gretchen Higgins Elementary

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Rank History for all students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2004	46.16	2349^th	4809	51.2%
2005	47.95	2297^th	4822	52.4%
2006	49.97	2196^th	4818	54.4%
2007	50.15	2324^th	5113	54.5%
2008	48.19	2483^rd	5113	51.4%
2009	37.98	3178^th	5193	38.8%
2010	33.19	3604^th	5314	32.2%
2011	31.40	3883^rd	5377	27.8%
2012	29.11	4001^st	5390	25.8%
2013	23.97	4463^rd	5530	19.3%
2015	29.00	3780^th	5611	32.6%
2016	21.59	4463^rd	5614	20.5%
2017	26.67	4111^th	5692	27.8%
2018	22.57	4467^th	5662	21.1%
2019	33.62	3648^th	5789	37.0%
2022	23.73	4475^th	5883	23.9%
2023	29.84	3908^th	5874	33.5%
2024	24.24	4433^rd	5862	24.4%

See the entire list of California Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	26.03	2655^th	3246	18.2%
2019	27.23	2695^th	3275	17.7%
2022	36.74	2065^th	3311	37.6%
2023	44.23	1530^th	3250	52.9%
2024	36.08	2101^st	3160	33.5%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	25.12	4113^th	5084	19.1%
2019	29.44	3893^rd	5173	24.7%
2022	30.01	3840^th	5264	27.1%
2023	32.78	3670^th	5374	31.7%
2024	24.37	4420^th	5511	19.8%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	20.75	4472^nd	5413	17.4%
2019	29.63	3851^st	5492	29.9%
2022	21.48	4567^th	5635	19.0%
2023	27.92	3973^rd	5617	29.3%
2024	24.06	4331^st	5605	22.7%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	26.13	4010^th	5431	26.2%
2019	40.49	3008^th	5510	45.4%
2022	28.97	3881^st	5663	31.5%
2023	32.70	3564^th	5650	36.9%
2024	25.51	4220^th	5636	25.1%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	27.68	3705^th	4830	23.3%
2019	36.27	3227^th	4963	35.0%
2022	31.11	3613^th	5084	28.9%
2023	29.23	3779^th	5098	25.9%
2024	26.75	3969^th	5102	22.2%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked Elementary Schools	CA State Percentile
2018	24.84	2213^th	2737	19.1%
2019	35.53	1984^th	2834	30.0%
2022	6.77	2602^nd	2726	4.5%
2023	15.39	2332^nd	2662	12.4%
2024	13.26	2371^st	2647	10.4%

See the entire list of Best California Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: California Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: California Department of Education

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Enrollment information for Gretchen Higgins Elementary

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Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
2002	341	23	26	281	7	n/a	n/a	11	689
2003	341	23	26	281	7	n/a	n/a	11	689
2004	317	17	26	291	8	n/a	n/a	10	669
2005	298	21	39	262	7	n/a	n/a	6	633
2006	300	20	42	267	8	n/a	n/a	12	649
2007	276	22	39	260	7	n/a	n/a	12	616
2008	256	25	31	266	6	n/a	n/a	0	584
2009	245	14	25	292	6	5	24	0	611
2010	256	11	12	334	6	6	27	0	652
2011	208	9	7	372	6	3	28	0	633
2012	179	9	10	337	4	3	36	0	578
2013	161	8	5	343	4	1	28	0	550
2014	136	11	4	322	4	2	27	0	506
2015	124	14	6	326	3	1	26	0	500
2016	100	13	3	317	3	1	28	0	465
2017	89	15	3	323	2	0	24	0	456
2018	88	11	3	298	1	0	19	0	420
2019	85	13	3	225	0	0	21	0	347
2020	88	12	5	227	1	0	23	0	356
2021	96	14	7	242	1	1	30	0	391
2022	84	11	7	243	0	1	32	0	378
2023	78	11	5	246	0	1	32	0	373

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Gretchen Higgins Elementary

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
2002	689	35.5	19.4	42.8
2003	689	35.5	19.4	42.8
2004	669	28.3	23.6	44
2005	633	31.8	19.9	45.8
2006	649	35.0	18.5	47.4
2007	616	33.8	18.2	43.4
2008	584	30.9	18.9	42.1
2009	611	30.8	18.6	45.2
2010	652	22.0	29.6	46
2011	633	n/a	n/a	49.9
2012	578	21.7	26.5	n/a
2013	550	21.0	26.1	70.7
2014	506	18.7	27.0	69.8
2015	500	19.0	26.3	77.4
2016	465	18.0	25.8	75.7
2017	456	14.5	31.4	77.2
2018	420	14.6	28.7	71.4
2019	347	13.3	26.0	69.5
2020	356	n/a	n/a	65.2
2021	391	15.0	26.0	59.3
2022	378	14.3	26.3	47.6
2023	373	14.3	26.0	57.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Gretchen Higgins Elementary

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
2002	689	35.5	19.4	42.8
2003	689	35.5	19.4	42.8
2004	669	28.3	23.6	44
2005	633	31.8	19.9	45.8
2006	649	35.0	18.5	47.4
2007	616	33.8	18.2	43.4
2008	584	30.9	18.9	42.1
2009	611	30.8	18.6	45.2
2010	652	22.0	29.6	46
2011	633	n/a	n/a	49.9
2012	578	21.7	26.5	n/a
2013	550	21.0	26.1	70.7
2014	506	18.7	27.0	69.8
2015	500	19.0	26.3	77.4
2016	465	18.0	25.8	75.7
2017	456	14.5	31.4	77.2
2018	420	14.6	28.7	71.4
2019	347	13.3	26.0	69.5
2020	356	n/a	n/a	65.2
2021	391	15.0	26.0	59.3
2022	378	14.3	26.3	47.6
2023	373	14.3	26.0	57.6

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

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