Best Elementary Schools in Turlock, CA

Turlock’s 10 elementary schools include nine in Turlock Unified and Chatom Union’s Chatom Elementary; eight serve kindergarten through grade 6, while Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy and Chatom serve kindergarten through grade 5. Together they enroll 7,119 students, averaging 712 per school, with enrollment ranging from 391 to 900. The 10-school average is below the state in ELA, math and science—by 11, 6 and 13 percentage points, respectively. The clearest takeaway is that results vary sharply by school rather than describing one uniformly strong or weak area.

Walnut Elementary Education Center leads in all three subjects, with 66% proficient in ELA, 64% in math and 46% in science; it is the only school above the state in science. Julien Elementary is also above the state in ELA (51%, about 2 points higher) and math (45%). Chatom is second in math at 51%, 13 points above the state, but its science result is 15%, 21 points below. At the other end, Cunningham Elementary is lowest in each subject: 15% in ELA, 12% in math and 12% in science. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings also show a wide spread: Walnut is in the 83rd percentile, Julien the 63rd, Chatom the 57th and Cunningham the 3rd.

Average scores rose from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: 3 percentage points in ELA, 2 in math and 1 in science. The gap with the state narrowed in ELA and math, but widened in science because the state improved faster. Julien improved in all three subjects, including 10 points in ELA and 9 in math; Walnut’s science score fell 8 points even as its ELA and math rose. School context adds useful contrasts, but does not explain results: in 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 40% at Walnut, 79% at Cunningham and 75% at Chatom. In 2025–2026, chronic absenteeism was 5% at Walnut and 2% at Chatom, compared with 28% at Cunningham. Ratios ranged from 20.7 students per teacher at Wakefield to 25.5 at Walnut, showing that lower ratios do not automatically correspond to higher scores.