Schools · Atwater

Atwater, CA schools

Atwater’s public schools score below California’s averages: 46% of students are proficient in reading against 48.5% statewide, and 95% of high schoolers graduate on time against 87.6%. Kids attend one of 8 schools through grade 8, then Mitchell Intermediate or Peggy Heller Elementary or Bellevue Senior Elementary.

Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.

B-School Grade #289Best schools in CA (of 574)#102Highest graduation rate in CA (of 720)

TownTapestry School GradeNew

B⁻

Atwater’s School Grade: B-

The public schools Atwater’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 50% of California’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they sit near the middle.

C+Test scoresA-Graduation

California school districts we grade (1,139)Better than 50%

Lower resultsHigher results

California towns with similar household incomes (411)Better than 62%

High confidence. Built on 2,398 tested students and a graduating class of 2,598; ordinary year-to-year swings are unlikely to change the grade.

How the School Grade works

Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on California’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2020–21; graduation: class of 2020.
The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of California only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in California with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.