West Cottonwood Junior High

West Cottonwood Junior High is a junior high of modestly sized scale in Cottonwood, California, run under Cottonwood Union Elementary, educateing 419 students in grades 5 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 36% below the state mean of about 659.

Cottonwood Union Elementary comprises 2 schools with combined enrollment of 917 students; West Cottonwood Junior High is among them.

On demographics, West Cottonwood Junior High logs that White students make up the majority at 65%; the rest reads as 21% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 6% Native American. By comparison, Shasta County as a whole is about 78% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.6:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 20.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 51% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), West Cottonwood Junior High sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 49.4%; this one delivers 42.1%.

Around the school, Shasta County reports that median household income runs about $72,636, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Shasta County runs 95 public schools (combined enrollment of about 26,639 students), of which West Cottonwood Junior High is one.

The closest other public school is Cottonwood Creek Charter, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts West Cottonwood Junior High at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 37.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at West Cottonwood Junior High has increased 4%, going from 402 students in 2018 to 419 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 73% to 65%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 21.1:1 in 2018 to 19.6:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.