Summary:
ZIP code 93422 has nine Atascadero Unified schools: four elementary, two middle and three high schools, serving students from elementary grades through high school. In 2025–2026, the schools’ average proficiency was 48% in English language arts (ELA), 32% in math and 34% in science, compared with state averages of 49%, 38% and 36%. The most important finding is how widely results differ from school to school: the range is 47 percentage points in ELA, 57 in math and 55 in science.
Fine Arts Academy stands out across subjects, leading in ELA at 67% and science at 55%, and ranking second in math at 50%; it also leads several same-grade comparisons, including fourth-grade ELA (76%) and math (73%). Monterey Road Elementary leads in math at 57%, 19 points above the state. At the other end, Paloma Creek High reports 20% ELA proficiency and 0% in both math and science. Its reported graduation rate is 64%, with 33% dropout and 97% chronic absenteeism. ACE has a split profile: second-highest All Grades ELA at 64%, but second-lowest math at 19%.
Recent changes are mixed: the school-group ELA average rose by about 1 point from the prior year, while math fell by about 2 points and science was nearly unchanged; state results rose, so the group’s math and science position worsened relative to the state. ACE improved by 20 points in ELA and 21 in science, while San Gabriel fell by 8 points in ELA, 12 in math and 20 in science. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 rankings put Fine Arts and Monterey Road at the 77th percentile, compared with Paloma at the 7th; ACE rose from the 39th to the 57th percentile. All nine schools report free/reduced lunch eligible figures for 2024–2025, ranging from 35% at Fine Arts to 71% at Paloma; ratios range from 16.0 students per teacher at Paloma to 28.5 at ACE, without forming a consistent pattern with test results. Because schools serve different grade spans, All Grades results do not always compare the same grades.
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