Summary:
The Dunham Elementary district in Petaluma, California, consists of two small K-6 schools sharing a campus, with a total of 175 students and a strong statewide ranking in the 87th percentile.
Within the district, Dunham Charter is the primary and standout school, serving 166 students with academic proficiency well above California averages in English, math, and science, and it shows a consistent history of improvement. In contrast, Dunham Elementary is a much smaller program with only 9 students, lacking recent performance data and operating at a significantly higher cost per student, which suggests it may serve a specific purpose within the district.
Key insights for parents include the district's overall academic strength, driven by Dunham Charter's effective programs and lower-than-average chronic absenteeism. An area to note is a pattern of declining math scores in the upper grades at the charter school. The unusual structure of two schools at one location, with a vast difference in resources and enrollment, is a distinctive feature of this small, high-performing district.
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