Casterlin Elementary

Casterlin Elementary is a primary school of minimally staffed scale in Blocksburg, California, one of the schools within Southern Humboldt Joint Unified, teacheing 39 students in grades K through 8. That puts it 92% below the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Across the 8 schools in Southern Humboldt Joint Unified (647 students total), Casterlin Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Casterlin Elementary lists that the largest single group is White at 49%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school shows 23% multiracial, 21% Hispanic, 8% Native American. By comparison, Humboldt County as a whole is about 72% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 2 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.3:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Casterlin Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 95% of students at Casterlin Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Humboldt County's rate of about 60%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Casterlin Elementary ranks in the top 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 23.9%; Casterlin Elementary posts 42.8%, +18.9 points above that line.

Across the wider county, Humboldt County reports that median household income runs about $61,160, about 33% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. In all, Humboldt County runs 92 public schools (combined enrollment of about 17,319 students), of which Casterlin Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Casterlin High, around 0.0 miles off. Within ten miles, there are 2 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Casterlin Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 19.8%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Casterlin Elementary's enrollment has rose 22% since 2018, when it stood at 32 (now 39). The White share of enrollment shrank from 63% to 49% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio loosened from 10.7:1 in 2018 to 19.3:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Casterlin Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.