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North Monterey County Unified

Coming soon: We're expecting this year's test scores from the California Department of Education any day now — new rankings will be posted the moment they're released!

Coming soon: This year's test scores are expected from the California Department of Education any day now — new rankings will follow the moment they're released!

At a glance

1332^ndof 1,543 California districts▼ 42

Better than 13% of California districts

Elementary 4 Middle 1 High 3Grades K-12

13994 Castroville Blvd.
Castroville, CA 95012-9749·(831) 633-3343·All California district rankings →

Statewide performance 2016–2025

2025: better than 13.7% of districts

Schools

4,289

Students

Top rankedNorth Monterey County Center for Independent Study1203^rd of 2,162 California high schools

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Biggest riser

Castroville Elementary up 1,322 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

North Monterey County Middle 20.8 students per teacher

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Newly ranked this year

Central Bay High (Continuation)

SchoolDigger ratings

2★

1★

0★

Compare California districts →See the top-ranked California schools →

Summary:

The North Monterey County Unified district serves students in Castroville and Salinas through eight schools, including four elementary schools, one middle school, and three high schools, with a total enrollment of about 4,300 students in a high-needs community.

When comparing schools, North Monterey County High stands out for its strong 90.5% graduation rate and better-than-average English scores, though it struggles with math proficiency and student attendance. Among elementary schools, Castroville Elementary has the highest test scores and showed significant recent improvement, while Echo Valley Elementary excels with the district's lowest chronic absenteeism rate at just 12.6%.

The district faces a significant challenge with mathematics, as proficiency is low at every grade level and drops sharply in middle school at North Monterey County Middle. The North Monterey County Center for Independent Study performs well in math relative to other district schools, while the continuation high school, Central Bay High, faces severe attendance and academic hurdles despite very high per-student spending.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Immunizations Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				CAST Science (2025)				Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy (2025)								Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2025)								% Completely Immunized (2022)	% Polio (2022)	% Hepatitis B (2022)	% Varicella (2022)	% DTP (2022)	% MMR (2022)	Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients (2025)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	CAST Science 5th Grade	CAST Science 8th Grade	CAST Science 11th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics All Grades	% Completely Immunized KG	% Polio KG	% Hepatitis B KG	% Varicella KG	% DTP KG	% MMR KG	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Central Bay High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	17500 Pesante Rd.	Salinas	93907	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 663-2997	23	3	7.6	100.0%	2 (8.7%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (91.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7.1	2143^rd of 2162 public high schools	0.9%					(n/a)			0.0	0.0							0.0	0.0							0.0	0.0							$84,454	$82,090	$2,364
Castroville Elementary	Public	K-6	11161 Merritt St.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-2570	600	24	25.0	90.5%	13 (2.2%)	1 (0.2%)	579 (96.5%)	5 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	31.7	3822^nd of 5857 public elementary schools	34.7%		16.8	5144^th of 5869 public elementary schools	12.4%	1322	25.3			25.3	13.2	27.2	41.8	45.9				32.7	31.2	24.4	30.8	27.9				28.6	96.9			96.9			$17,156	$15,390	$1,766
Echo Valley Elementary	Public	K-6	147 Echo Valley Rd.	Salinas	93907	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 663-2308	502	21	23.3	89.2%	17 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	473 (94.2%)	9 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	14.4	5317^th of 5857 public elementary schools	9.2%		15.6	5254^th of 5869 public elementary schools	10.5%	63	19.7			19.7	18.4	20.0	26.2	22.4				21.6	16.9	19.1	13.1	13.9				15.7	93.1	95.4			96.6		$17,518	$15,986	$1,532
Elkhorn Elementary	Public	K-6	2235 Elkhorn Rd.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-2405	550	26	21.1	83.5%	41 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	494 (89.8%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.0%)	18.5	4968^th of 5857 public elementary schools	15.2%		16.7	5154^th of 5869 public elementary schools	12.2%	186	21.2			21.2	20.9	28.1	32.3	27.9				27.3	19.2	19.4	19.7	10.1				17.1	94.5	97.3		95.9	97.3	95.9	$17,665	$15,892	$1,773
North Monterey County Middle	Public	7-8	10301 Seymour St.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-3391	624	30	20.8	87.8%	30 (4.8%)	2 (0.3%)	586 (93.9%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	13.1	2513^th of 2761 public middle schools	9.0%		18.5	2317^th of 2783 public middle schools	16.7%	196		12.1		12.1					21.3	26.5		23.9					8.7	7.1		7.9							$19,268	$17,662	$1,606
North Monterey County High	Public	9-12	13990 Castroville Blvd.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-5221	1,250	57	21.7	84.5%	94 (7.5%)	2 (0.2%)	1,132 (90.6%)	11 (0.9%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (0.6%)	36	1359^th of 2162 public high schools	37.1%		42.9	1175^th of 2159 public high schools	45.6%	184			17.7	17.4							52.1	52.1							7.9	7.9							$17,900	$15,918	$1,982
Prunedale Elementary	Public	K-6	17719 Pesante Rd.	Salinas	93907	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 663-3963	644	27	23.8	84.0%	51 (7.9%)	2 (0.3%)	579 (89.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	7 (1.1%)	23.3	4559^th of 5857 public elementary schools	22.2%		24.5	4413^th of 5869 public elementary schools	24.8%	146	18.7			18.7	27.6	19.8	25.6	29.8				25.4	28.6	13.5	46.2	13.1				25.3	94.9	96.9		96.9	96.9		$17,315	$15,648	$1,667
North Monterey County Center for Independent Study	Public	7-12	17500 Pesante Rd.	Salinas	93907	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-7050	96	4	23.5	83.3%	18 (18.8%)	0 (0.0%)	75 (78.1%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	42.4	1203^rd of 2162 public high schools	44.4%		35.3	1360^th of 2159 public high schools	37.0%	157			17.7	18.6							35.3	31.1							32.4	31.9	75.0	85.0	85.0	85.0	80.0	85.0	$21,126	$20,104	$1,022

Districts nearby

District	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Santa Rita Union Elementary	3.13 mi	7	1331^st
Lagunita Elementary	3.53 mi	1
Salinas Union High	3.8 mi	12	981^st
Alisal Union	4.89 mi	14	1327^th
Oasis Charter Public District	4.9 mi	1	1516^th

See the top CA California districts

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.