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What's one thing Murdock Elementary gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
488
Elementary
DISTRICT 350 · STATE 465
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WILLOWS UNIFIED·NCES 064271006977
Murdock Elementary
655 West French St., Willows, CA 95988 · (530) 934-6640 · Glenn County
GRADES KG–04ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL488 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 5% of California public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B-Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded California public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 22.8:1 · STATE 22.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
361 students
DISTRICT 69% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 121 | 25% |
| Grade 1 | 92 | 19% |
| Grade 2 | 93 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 95 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (121) is 27% larger than its 4th grade class (95).
Student demographics
60%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Willows Unified. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
18.8%
CA avg 49.1% . -4.2pp since 2014
Math
21.9%
CA avg 37.7% . +7.9pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 19 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 22 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are down about 4 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 4.1% | 14.7% | 27.6% | 53.5% |
| Math | 5.3% | 16.6% | 28.4% | 49.7% |
Share of tested students at each CAASPP level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
CAASPP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 18.8% | 21.9% |
| 2023-24 | 13.5% | 13.8% |
| 2022-23 | 16.5% | 18.1% |
| 2021-22 | 18.6% | 17.1% |
| 2020-21 | 22.1% | 16.3% |
| 2018-19 | 27.6% | 21.5% |
| 2017-18 | 26.1% | 24.0% |
| 2016-17 | 18.3% | 22.9% |
| 2015-16 | 27.0% | 22.0% |
| 2014-15 | 23.0% | 14.0% |
% met or exceeded standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CAASPP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
16.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 17% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 36% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Murdock Elementary
Murdock Elementary's state test result (16.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murdock Elementary this school | 488 | 74.0% | 16.6% |
| William M. Metteer Elementary Red Bluff | 458 | 77.5% | 20.6% |
| North Shore Elementary Big Bear Lake | 517 | 70.4% | 39.1% |
| Lockeford Elementary Lockeford | 541 | 73.2% | 25.3% |
| Lakewood Elementary Lodi | 478 | 70.5% | 35.2% |
| Kelseyville Elementary Kelseyville | 543 | 75.0% | 21.3% |
Matched among California elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Murdock Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Glenn County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 16.6% | #4,847 of 5,151 | N/A |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.9% | #4,119 of 5,172 ▲ 649 | N/A |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 18.8% | #4,908 of 5,172 ▲ 164 | N/A |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +2.5pp | #2,491 of 5,116 | N/A |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 488 | #2,594 of 5,915 | #2 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.0:1 | #954 of 5,352 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.9% | #1,841 of 5,354 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.0% | #2,693 of 5,625 | #4 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.1% | #1,418 of 3,837 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
488
-123 (-20%) vs 2017
-45% since 1990-91, when it was 885
Student : Teacher
20.0:1
was 23.5:1
% White
39%
was 37%
% Hispanic
50%
was 51%
% Black
1%
was 1%
% Asian
4%
was 6%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 488 | 24.4 | 20.0:1 | 74% (361) |
| 2023-24 | 592 | 28.1 | 21.1:1 | 78% (463) |
| 2022-23 | 602 | 28.4 | 21.2:1 | 81% (488) |
| 2017-18 | 611 | 26 | 23.5:1 | 77% (472) |
| 2015-16 | 637 | 26 | 24.5:1 | 75% (478) |
| 2010-11 | 584 | N/A | N/A | 69% (405) |
| 2000-01 | 742 | 40 | 18.6:1 | 64% (472) |
| 1990-91 | 885 | 36 | 24.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Murdock Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (611 to 488); teachers down 6% (26 to 24.4).
About Murdock Elementary
Murdock Elementary is an elementary school in Willows, California, according to federal school records. It enrolled 488 students in kindergarten through 4 for the 2024-25 school year.
The 4 schools in Willows Unified enroll 1,399 students altogether, Murdock Elementary among them.
Murdock Elementary's enrollment has no majority group, and Hispanic students are the largest at 50%. Other students are 39% White, 6% Native American, and 4% Asian. Murdock Elementary has a diversity index of 60%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Teachers at Murdock Elementary total 24.4 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 20.0:1. The 22.3:1 average for elementary schools in California is higher than this school's figure. The school counts 361 students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or 74%. Across public schools in Glenn County, the average is about the same, 71%.
Murdock Elementary is graded D by allk12, scoring above 5% of California public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Murdock Elementary trails its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests by 19.6 points (16.6% versus 36.2%), a bottom-10% result in California on BeatsExpectations.
Within Glenn County, median household income is about $67,139, 15% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 14% of people live in poverty. The public schools of Glenn County number 25 and enroll about 6,252.
Willows High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, 5 other public schools are within five miles. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Murdock Elementary is 6th of 6 on proficiency.
Murdock Elementary falls in the Town: Distant locale category, used for schools in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
From 2017-18 to 2024-25, Murdock Elementary went from 611 students to 488. Its ratio of students to teachers was 23.5:1 in 2017-18, and 20.0:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes can be posted here. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Glenn County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
28,494
Census ACS
Median income
$67,139
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
15%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
25
6,252 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Willows Unified
- Willows IntermediateMiddle · 464 students
- Willows HighHigh · 423 students
- Willows Community HighHigh · 24 students
Other schools in Willows
- Willows IntermediateMiddle · 464 students
- Willows HighHigh · 423 students
- Walden AcademyElementary · 167 students
- Glenn County Special EducationCombined · 93 students
- Willows Community HighHigh · 24 students
- Glenn County ROPHigh
Other Murdock Elementary schools
4 other US public schools in 4 states are named Murdock Elementary. Murdock Elementary is the 3rd largest of the 5.
- Murdock ElementaryLa Mesa, CA · 608 students
- Murdock Elementary SchoolMarietta, GA · 847 students
- MURDOCK ELEMENTARYMURDOCK, MN · 395 students
- Murdock Elementary SchoolLafayette, IN · 230 students
Nearby schools
- Willows High0.3 mi · 423
- Walden Academy0.4 mi · 167
- Willows Community High0.6 mi · 24
- Glenn County Special Education0.8 mi · 93
- Willows Intermediate0.9 mi · 464
- Princeton Elementary13.2 mi · 83
Frequently asked questions
About Murdock ElementaryHow many students attend Murdock Elementary?
Murdock Elementary enrolls approximately 488 students in grades KG-04.
What age range does Murdock Elementary serve?
Murdock Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 04.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Murdock Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Murdock Elementary is approximately 20.0:1 (24 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Murdock Elementary?
Murdock Elementary reports a student body of 39% White, 50% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Murdock Elementary public or private?
Murdock Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Willows Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.