Summary:
ZIP code 95368 has four schools: three elementary schools serving kindergarten through grade 5 and one middle school serving grades 6–8. Their results show different strengths by school and grade: elementary grade 5 results are consistently above state figures in ELA and math, while the middle school is below state results in every reported grade and subject. The most important takeaway is that school and grade span make a substantial difference to the academic picture in this area.
Dena Boer Elementary led all four schools in 2025–2026 all-grades ELA, with 54% proficiency—about 13 points above Salida Middle School - Vella Campus, at 42%. Salida Elementary led in math at 47% and science at 39%; Vella had the lowest all-grades results in those subjects, at 28% and 33%. Vella also trailed the state in every reported middle-school grade, with its largest gaps in grade 7: 10 points below state ELA and 13 points below state math. At grade 5, all three elementary schools were above state results in ELA and math. All-grades comparisons combine different grade spans, so grade-level results offer a more direct comparison.
Results improved overall, though not evenly: the four-school average rose about 7 points in ELA, 6 in math and 8 in science from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026. Salida Elementary made the largest gains, up 17 points in ELA, 18 in math and 10 in science; Vella’s ELA fell about 1 point. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 rankings placed Dena Boer highest among these schools at the 66th percentile, followed by Salida Elementary at the 63rd, Sisk at the 61st and Vella at the 46th. Context also varies: for 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible shares ranged from 68% at Sisk Elementary to 93% at Salida Elementary; student-teacher ratios ranged from 20.1 at Dena Boer to 22.7 at Salida Elementary. These figures describe school contexts, not causes of test results.
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