Summary:
Merced has 19 elementary schools, with enrollments ranging from 22 to 1,055; most serve kindergarten through grade 6, while grade spans range from K–3 to K–8. Because schools serve different grade spans, all-grades results are not perfectly comparable. The clearest area-wide concern is that average results fall below state figures in all three subjects: ELA averages 36% versus 49% statewide, math 26% versus 38%, and science 19% versus 36%—with science showing the largest shortfall, 17 percentage points.
Plainsburg Union Elementary is the broadest standout, leading in ELA at 56% and science at 40%, and placing second in math at 40%; its results exceed state figures in all three subjects. Franklin Elementary leads all-grades math at 51%, but serves only K–3. At the other end, Alicia Reyes Elementary is near the bottom in ELA at 23% and ranks last in math at 14% and science at 7%. Merced City School District Community Day has the lowest ELA result, 17%. The top-to-bottom spread is about 40 points in ELA, 37 in math, and 33 in science.
Recent changes are mixed: the area’s average ELA result rose about 2 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, narrowing its gap with the state by about 1 point; math improved less than the state, while science fell about 1 point as the state gained about 3, widening the science gap by about 4 points. Plainsburg Union Elementary’s SchoolDigger statewide rank percentile rose from 47 to 61 over the recent history, but rankings and test scores show no single direction across schools. Similar-sized schools also differ: McSwain Elementary and Pioneer Elementary have 912 and 1,055 students, yet their ELA results are 50% and 40%; their student-teacher ratios are 20.9 and 20.3, respectively. The reported free/reduced lunch eligible figures for 2024–2025 range from 35% at McSwain to 96% at Alicia Reyes; these are context, not an explanation of results.
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