Summary:
ZIP code 95324 has three elementary schools in Hilmar Unified: Hilmar Elementary serves kindergarten through grade 2, Elim Elementary serves grades 3–5, and Merquin Elementary serves kindergarten through grade 5. Enrollment ranges from 126 to 467. Test results for 2025–2026 are available for Elim and Merquin, but not Hilmar. The clearest overall finding is that Elim leads Merquin in all three reported all-grades subjects, while Merquin has a strong grade-3 exception.
Elim Elementary stands out for the strongest overall results: 44% proficient in ELA, 33% in math, and 26% in science, compared with 35%, 17%, and 16% at Merquin Elementary. Those leads are 9, 16, and 11 percentage points, respectively. Merquin’s grade-3 results are the notable counterpoint: it leads Elim by 18 points in ELA (57% versus 39%) and 8 points in math (43% versus 35%). Elim leads in grades 4 and 5; for example, its grade-4 math result is 40%, compared with 5% at Merquin. Both schools are below state results overall, with the shortfall especially pronounced for Merquin in math and science: 22 and 20 points, compared with Elim’s 5 and 10 points.
Results improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, particularly at Merquin, whose all-grades ELA rose 20 points and math rose 10; its science result was unchanged. Elim rose 9 points in ELA, 1 in math, and 5 in science. The two-school average moved closer to the state in ELA and math, but fell further behind in science. SchoolDigger percentile rankings also rose from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026: from 37 to 45 for Elim and from 9 to 23 for Merquin. As context, in 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 63% at Elim, 75% at Merquin, and 51% at Hilmar; student-teacher ratios were 20.8, 18.0, and 20.3, respectively. These figures describe school settings but do not explain achievement differences.
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