Jefferson Elementary

Jefferson Elementary operates as a middle-of-the-pack K-5 school in Cloverdale, California, part of Cloverdale Unified. Current enrollment sits at 487 students spanning grades K through 4.

Cloverdale Unified runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,293 students. Jefferson Elementary is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Jefferson Elementary logs that 63% of the student body identifies as Hispanic; the rest breaks down as 28% White, 6% multiracial, 2% Native American. The wider county runs roughly 30% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Jefferson Elementary lists 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 22.1:1. The state averages about 22.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 57% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Jefferson Elementary is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 46.0%; Jefferson Elementary posts 28.6%, -17.4 points below that line.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Sonoma County indicate median household earnings sit near $104,674, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. In all, Sonoma County runs 184 public schools (combined enrollment of about 63,389 students), of which Jefferson Elementary is one.

Cloverdale High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Jefferson Elementary. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Jefferson Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, below the local average of 30.9%.

Jefferson Elementary operates from a small-town location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 14%: 568 students in 2018 compared to 487 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 55% to 63% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 24.0:1 in 2018 to 22.1:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.