Summary:
ZIP code 96021 has seven elementary schools enrolling 1,819 students; six serve through grade 6 or below, while Richfield Elementary, Kirkwood Elementary and Columbia Academy serve through grade 8. In 2025–26, reported-school averages were 32% in ELA, 23% in math and 21% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%; the gaps were 17, 15 and 15 percentage points. The key takeaway is that area averages trail the state in every subject, even though some schools show notable strengths.
Richfield Elementary stands out most broadly, leading reported all-grades ELA at 48% and science at 39%; its science result is 3 points above the state, while its ELA result is 2 points below. Kirkwood Elementary leads math at 36%, 2 points below the state, and its sixth-grade math result of 55% is 17 points above the state. At the low end, Olive View Elementary has the lowest reported ELA (23%) and science (8%), while Rancho Tehama Elementary has the lowest reported math (13%). SchoolDigger ranks Richfield highest among schools with a listed rank: 3,026 of 5,804, at the 48th percentile with 2 stars.
Recent changes are mixed: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, the reported-school average rose 1 percentage point in ELA, but fell 2 points in math and 1 point in science; the state gap narrowed in ELA and widened in math and science. SchoolDigger’s ranking history also shows gains for Woodson Elementary (up 6 percentile points from 2023–24 to 2025–26) and Rancho Tehama (up 8). As context, free/reduced lunch eligible shares in 2024–25 were around 90% at Olive View, Woodson and West Street Elementary, and 88% at Rancho Tehama; those similar figures accompany different test results. School sizes and grade spans vary, so all-grades comparisons do not tell the whole story.
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