Summary:
Zip code 94947 has four K–5 elementary schools in Novato Unified: Pleasant Valley, Rancho, Lu Sutton and Lynwood; enrollment ranges from 260 to 464 students. In 2025–2026, the four-school averages were 50% in ELA, 47% in math and 41% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%, respectively. Those averages are above the state in all three subjects, but results vary substantially by school and subject—the group average alone can hide important differences for families comparing schools.
Pleasant Valley stands out in all-grade ELA at 62%, 13 percentage points above the state and 16 points above the other schools’ average. Rancho leads in math at 58% and grade 5 science at 56%—19 and 20 points above the state, respectively. At the other end, Lu Sutton has the lowest all-grade ELA (41%) and math (34%); both are below the state, by 8 and 4 points. Lynwood has the lowest all-grade science result at 32%, 4 points below the state, but leads the group in grade 5 ELA at 61%—an exception to its all-grade ELA result of 47%.
Recent changes are mixed: the group’s average science result rose 7 percentage points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while ELA and math each fell by about 1 point. Science gains at Rancho and Lu Sutton were 18 and 16 points, while Pleasant Valley declined 9 points. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 rankings place Pleasant Valley at the 77th percentile and Rancho at the 74th, compared with Lynwood at the 56th and Lu Sutton at the 48th. For context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 21% at Pleasant Valley, 49% at Rancho and 59% at Lynwood; Lu Sutton reported 46% directly certified for free meals, a different measure. These figures describe context, not a cause of results.
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