Murdock Elementary

Murdock Elementary, a reasonably sized primary school in Willows, California, operated by Willows Unified, enrolls 488 students, covering grades K through 4.

Willows Unified comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 1,399 students; Murdock Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Murdock Elementary logs that the most-represented group is Hispanic (50%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder consists of 39% White, 6% Native American, 4% Asian.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.0:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Murdock Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 74% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

After controlling for student poverty, Murdock Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 35.4%; this one comes in at 13.8%, -21.7 points off the demographic line.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Glenn County indicate the typical household earns roughly $67,139 per year, roughly 15% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 14%. Across Glenn County's 25 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,252 students), Murdock Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Willows High, roughly 0.3 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Murdock Elementary. On composite proficiency, Murdock Elementary comes 6th of 6 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 31.5%.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 20%: 611 students in 2018 compared to 488 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 23.5:1 in 2018 to 20.0:1 today.

On this page, the feed for Murdock Elementary typically covers classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.