Summary:
Three elementary schools serve ZIP code 95834: Witter Ranch Elementary and Garden Valley Elementary serve kindergarten through grade 6, while Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep Elementary serves kindergarten through grade 5. Enrollment ranges from 365 to 621 students. In 2025–26, the three-school average was 44% proficient in English language arts, 39% in math, and 29% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38%, and 36%. The most important distinction is that Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep is far ahead, while the other two schools were below the state in all three subjects.
Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep Elementary led in every subject, with 68% proficiency in ELA, 68% in math, and 52% in science—19, 30, and 16 percentage points above the state, respectively. Garden Valley Elementary had the lowest scores: 29% in ELA, 24% in math, and 14% in science, or 20, 14, and 22 points below the state. Witter Ranch Elementary fell between them in ELA and science, but its math result was nearly tied with Garden Valley’s: 24.4% versus 24.1%. Across schools, the highest-to-lowest gaps were 39 points in ELA, 44 in math, and 38 in science.
Results changed unevenly from 2024–25 to 2025–26: the three-school average fell 3 points in ELA and 2 in math, but rose 2 in science, while state scores increased in all three subjects. At the school level, Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep’s science rose 7 points and ELA fell 5; Witter Ranch’s math fell 8 points; and Garden Valley’s science fell 5. SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking percentile rose from 85 to 87 for Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep, but fell from 46 to 26 for Witter Ranch and from 63 to 20 for Garden Valley. Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep also had the lowest reported student-teacher ratio, 22.9, compared with 23.6 at Witter Ranch and 25.9 at Garden Valley. As context, free/reduced lunch eligible shares in 2024–25 were 31%, 74%, and 92%, respectively; these figures describe the schools and do not explain their results.
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