Fortuna Elementary

Fortuna Elementary serves the Fortuna area through four schools: two elementary schools covering grades K–4, one middle school covering grades 5–8, and another covering grades 7–8. In 2025–26, the schools’ average All Grades proficiency was 32% in English language arts (ELA) and 25% in math, compared with 49% and 38% statewide. The central finding for families is that all four schools were below state results in both ELA and math, despite differences in which school led each subject.

Fortuna Middle led All Grades ELA at 44%, 12 percentage points above the next-highest school, Linell K. Walker Elementary at 30%; Fortuna Middle was still 6 points below the state. Norman G. Ambrosini Elementary led math at 37%, 14 points above Walker, and was just 1 point below the state. At the other end, Ambrosini had the lowest ELA result, 23%, while Toddy Thomas Middle had the lowest math result, 18%—20 points below the state. In science, Toddy Thomas led the two middle schools at 32%, 3 points ahead of Fortuna Middle; both were below the state’s 36%.

Year-to-year changes were mixed: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, ELA rose at three schools but fell 6 points at Ambrosini, while Walker had the largest gains in both ELA (up 4 points) and math (up 5). SchoolDigger’s ranking history also differs by school: Fortuna Middle rose from the 22nd to the 41st percentile and held there, while Ambrosini fell from the 40th to the 28th percentile; these are rankings, not test-score percentages. The reported low-income measure for all four schools is free/reduced lunch eligible (FRL), 2024–25: shares range from 76% at Ambrosini to 85% at Toddy Thomas. Student-teacher ratios in 2024–25 range from 13.1 at Fortuna Middle to 20.1 at Ambrosini, but neither measure lines up with a consistent advantage across subjects.