Summary:
ZIP code 96101 has one elementary school, Alturas Elementary, serving 333 students in grades K–5 in the Modoc Joint Unified district. The most important finding is that in 2025–26, Alturas’s proficiency was below California’s in all three reported subjects, with the largest gap in English language arts (ELA).
There is no meaningful top-versus-bottom school comparison because Alturas is the only school in the ZIP-code list. In 2025–26, its all-grades proficiency was 26% in ELA, 24% in math and 23% in science, compared with 49%, 38% and 36% statewide—gaps of 23, 15 and 13 percentage points, respectively. Science was closest to the state result; ELA was farthest below. Against its district, Alturas was 4 points lower in ELA, but 5 points higher in math and 3 points higher in science. The ELA shortfall also varied by grade: it was 30 points in third grade, 14 in fourth and 19 in fifth, making third grade the clearest area of concern.
Alturas’s proficiency declined from 2024–25 to 2025–26 in all three subjects: 5 points in ELA, 7 in math and 2 in science, while its gaps with California widened by 6, 8 and 5 points. SchoolDigger’s ranking also moved down: Alturas went from the 34th percentile in 2023–24 to the 32nd in 2024–25 and the 20th in 2025–26. Attendance is a more favorable contrast: chronic absenteeism was 6% in 2025–26, versus 12% districtwide and 18% statewide. Other context includes a 16.6-to-1 student-teacher ratio in 2024–25 and 73% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25. These figures describe the school but cannot show how its characteristics compare with those of peer schools in the ZIP code.
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