Summary:
Carlotta, California, has one listed school, Cuddeback Elementary, serving kindergarten through grade 8, with 157 students. Its student–teacher ratio is 15.7 to 1. The most important concern is science: in 2025–2026, proficiency was 26% at Cuddeback versus 36% statewide, a 10-point deficit.
With no other local school to compare, Cuddeback’s strongest all-grades results are in ELA and mathematics: it exceeded state proficiency by 7 points in ELA (57% versus 49%) and 2 points in math (40% versus 38%), while falling 10 points below the state in science. Grade-level results vary sharply. ELA proficiency ranged from 83% in grade 3 to 30% in grade 8; eighth-grade ELA was 19 points below the state, while grades 3–7 were above their grade-level state results. Math ranged from 77% in grade 6 to 10% in grade 8. Grade 4 math was 27 points below the state, while grade 6 was 40 points above it.
Recent trends are mixed: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Cuddeback’s ELA proficiency rose 6 points and its advantage over the state grew, while math fell 3 points and its advantage narrowed; science fell 5 points as the state improved, widening the school’s deficit. SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking rose from the 45th percentile and 2 stars in 2023–2024 to the 73rd percentile and 4 stars in 2025–2026; its rank changed from 3,207 of 5,869 schools to 1,594 of 5,804. As context, 59% of students were reported free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025; California is identified as a statewide free-meals state. Chronic absenteeism was about 1% in 2025–2026, compared with 18% statewide, an 18-point lower figure. Because only one school is listed, these figures do not support local school-to-school comparisons.
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