Best Public Schools in Mendota, CA

Mendota has seven schools: three elementary, one middle and three high schools, serving students from kindergarten through high school, including two alternative high schools. Reported 2024–2025 income measures include free/reduced lunch eligible at 97% of students at Mendota High, 98% at McCabe Elementary and 97% at Mendota Junior High and Washington Elementary; Mendota Elementary and Mendota Continuation High report directly certified for free meals, at 79% and 88%, respectively. Because schools serve different grade spans, all-grades comparisons are not fully like-for-like. The clearest overall finding is that the four schools with reported results averaged below California in every tested subject: by 6 points in English language arts (ELA), 9 in math and 16 in science.

Mendota High leads in all-grades ELA, with 66% proficient—17 points above the state—and is essentially level with the state in science at 36%. Mendota Elementary leads in math at 41%, 3 points above the state, while its ELA result is 38%. At the other end, McCabe Elementary has the lowest results among the four schools reported in all subjects: 26% in ELA, 24% in math and 8% in science. Grade-by-grade math results also favor Mendota Elementary over McCabe in grades 3–6, by 6 to 31 points, with the largest gaps in grades 5 and 6. Mendota Junior High falls between the elementary schools and the high school in ELA, at 43%.

Results improved on average across the four schools from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: about 1 point in ELA, 4 in math and 6 in science. Gains were uneven: Mendota High’s science rose 13 points, while its ELA was nearly unchanged and McCabe’s math rose by less than 1 point. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile ranking improved from 46 to 64 for Mendota High and from 30 to 46 for Mendota Elementary; McCabe’s fell from 22 to 17. Attendance is another marked difference: chronic absenteeism was 85% at Mendota Continuation High and 75% at Mendota Community Day, compared with 15% at Mendota High. Mendota High also reports a 93% graduation rate and 4% dropout rate, versus California’s 88% and 8%.