North Cottonwood

As a mid-tier elementary school in Cottonwood, California, North Cottonwood enrolls 498 students from grades K through 4, overseen by Cottonwood Union Elementary.

Within Cottonwood Union Elementary, which oversees 2 schools and 917 students, North Cottonwood is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, North Cottonwood records that the largest single group is White, at 72% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school reports 19% Hispanic, 6% Native American.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 21.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Around 44% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Shasta County (around 58%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, North Cottonwood tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 53.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 42.5%.

In the area at large, Shasta County reports that median household earnings sit near $72,636, about 24% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Shasta County runs 95 public schools (combined enrollment of about 26,639 students), of which North Cottonwood is one.

West Cottonwood Junior High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, North Cottonwood comes 3rd of 6 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 37.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Looking at the recent track record. North Cottonwood's enrollment has edged down 7% since 2018, when it stood at 536 (now 498). White enrollment moved from 67% to 72% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 22.3:1 in 2018 to 21.2:1 today.

On this page, members of the North Cottonwood community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.