Taft Elementary

Taft Elementary is a K-8 public school serving 449 students in the Stockton Unified district, operating in a high-need community where the vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Academically, Taft faces significant challenges, with proficiency rates in English, math, and science well below state averages, placing it in the bottom 15% of California elementary schools. However, when compared to similar schools in the area, Taft performs in the middle of the pack within a district where all schools struggle. For instance, its English and math scores are slightly better than nearby Van Buren Elementary and McKinley Elementary. The school has shown a remarkable and dramatic improvement in reducing chronic student absenteeism, cutting the rate by nearly half since the 2021-2022 school year, which is a better improvement than most neighboring schools have achieved.

Looking closer, Taft has notable strengths and weaknesses. It shows unusual success in specific areas, such as 7th-grade English, where it outperforms the district average, and in supporting English Language Learner students. On the other hand, performance varies widely between grade levels, and there has been a severe and recent decline in outcomes for students in special education, which is a major concern. While per-student spending at Taft is higher than at some peers, like the higher-performing San Joaquin Elementary, the data shows no clear link between more funding and better results in this group of schools.