Summary:
The two schools in Cottonwood Union Elementary serve kindergarten through grade 8: North Cottonwood serves K–4, and West Cottonwood Junior High serves grades 5–8; together they enroll 917 students. The most important recent change is in ELA: both schools are now below the state, and their equal-school average fell to 10 points below it in 2025–26, compared with 3 points below the year before.
West Cottonwood Junior High stands out for the stronger all-grades results: 49% in ELA and 39% in math, compared with 29% and 31% at North Cottonwood. That is an advantage of 19 points in ELA and 8 in math. North is 20 points below the state in ELA and 7 below in math; West is 0.5 points below the state in ELA and 0.4 above in math. West’s strongest results are in grades 7 and 8, including grade 8 math at 58%, 22 points above the state. North’s grade 4 results have larger state gaps than its grade 3 results in both subjects. West is the only school with a reported science result: 23%, or 13 points below the state.
ELA results declined year over year at both schools, by 11 points at North Cottonwood and 3 at West Cottonwood Junior High, while the state result was nearly unchanged. The schools’ average math result also slipped by 1 point as the state improved by 1, widening their average math gap from 2 to 3 points. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 statewide rankings are at the 26th percentile for North and 61st for West; North’s ranking has fallen 31 percentile points since 2023–24, compared with 6 for West. For context, in 2024–25 North had a 21.1 student-teacher ratio and 44% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible; West’s ratio was 19.5 and 51% were eligible. These differences describe the schools but do not explain their results.
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