Ballico-Cressey Elementary

The Ballico-Cressey Elementary district in rural California consists of two schools serving 336 students from kindergarten through 8th grade, with both schools having similar socioeconomic profiles.

The district is anchored by the Ballico-Cressey Community Charter, which serves grades 1-8 and over 85% of the district's students, while Cressey Elementary operates as a dedicated kindergarten-only school. The charter school shows notable strengths, including very low chronic absenteeism at 4.7% and particularly strong middle school English scores, with 6th and 7th graders outperforming state averages. However, academic performance varies significantly by grade, with a noticeable dip in 5th grade proficiency in both English and math. Cressey Elementary, serving only kindergarten, has much smaller class sizes but also reports higher per-student spending.

Overall, the district excels in student attendance, with a chronic absenteeism rate far below the state average. Key areas for attention include improving science proficiency, which lags behind the state, and addressing the performance variability across grade levels at the charter school. The district's three-star rating for the charter school reflects consistent, average performance compared to schools statewide.