NCES CCD 2024-25 13 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in Atwater, CA

Compiled from official source data by .

13 public K-12 schools in Atwater from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
13
Schools
8,285
Students
34.2/100
Avg Resource Index
21:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Atwater has more public-school enrollment than 75% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Atwater's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

7 of Atwater's 13 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 3 middle and 2 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

High measured need meets a thin staffing ratio

Atwater's reporting schools show 67.6% free-lunch eligibility across measured enrollment, alongside an average 21.0:1 student-teacher ratio. These are separate constraints: one describes the economic context of enrolled students and the other compares student and teacher headcounts. The 34-point gap between Atwater Senior Academy and Atwater High is therefore more useful than the city mean alone. A school with a similar ratio may still report different counselor access, attendance, or gifted-program availability, so open the campus records before drawing conclusions about student support.

City enrollment
Top 25%
School count
Top 28%
Resource Index average
23rd percentile
Teacher staffing
12th percentile

Atwater High accounts for 24.5% of all Atwater public-school enrollment

That concentration means Atwater-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Atwater school enrollment varies 406× across entities

Atwater school enrollment ranges from 5 students (lowest) to 2,029 students (highest), a spread of 2,024 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Atwater reports 67.6% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Atwater student-teacher ratio is 21.0:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Atwater Senior Academy 55
2. Peggy Heller Elementary 43
3. Aileen Colburn Elementary 38
4. Bellevue Senior Elementary 38
5. Thomas Olaeta Elementary 36
6. Valley Atwater Community 35
7. Elmer Wood Elementary 33
8. Shaffer Elementary 33
9. Buhach Colony High 29
10. Mitchell Intermediate 29
11. Bellevue Elementary 28
12. Mitchell Elementary 27
13. Atwater High 21

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Atwater

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Buhach Colony High 48.0/100
  2. 2 Atwater Senior Academy 48.0/100
  3. 3 Peggy Heller Elementary 46.7/100
  4. 4 Thomas Olaeta Elementary 40.9/100
  5. 5 Elmer Wood Elementary 39.7/100

What do families ask about schools in Atwater?

Which Atwater school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Atwater Senior Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Atwater schools in this federal-data comparison at 55/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Atwater, CA? ▼

Atwater has 13 public schools with a total enrollment of 8,285 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 21:1.

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Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.