Summary:
Atascadero Unified includes 12 schools—seven elementary, two middle and three high schools—serving different grade levels across the Atascadero area. In 2025–2026, the average reported school result was 48% in English language arts (ELA), 33% in math and 37% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%, respectively. The central finding is that school results vary widely: the science scores alone span 62 percentage points, so districtwide averages can hide very different school experiences.
The leading school depends on the subject: Fine Arts Academy led ELA at 67%, 18 points above the state and 16 above the district; Monterey Road Elementary led math at 57%, 19 points above both; and Santa Margarita Elementary led science at 62%, 26 points above the state and 22 above the district. At the other end, Paloma Creek High scored 20% in ELA and 0% in both math and science—29, 38 and 36 points below the state, respectively. ACE shows why a single subject may not capture a school’s profile: its ELA result was 64%, but math was 19%.
Across schools with results in both years, average ELA rose by about 1 point from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while math fell by 3 points and science rose by 2; state averages rose by about 1 point in ELA and math and 3 in science. SchoolDigger ranked Fine Arts Academy in the 77th percentile among California middle schools and Paloma Creek High in the 7th percentile among high schools. The free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–2025 ranged from 34% at Santa Margarita Elementary to 76% at Carrisa Plains Elementary; these figures provide context, not an explanation for results. Enrollment and student–teacher ratios also do not neatly track scores: Paloma Creek had 55 students and a 16.0 ratio despite its low scores. Because schools serve different grades, all-grades results are broad comparisons rather than a guide to every grade.
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