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Richard H. Lewis Alternative

Grades K-12Alternative School2024–25 data
Alternative school — serves students who benefit from a non-traditional educational setting. Scores are not directly comparable to comprehensive schools.
Needs Support
13/100
Needs Support — 2nd percentile statewide
#1,682 of 1,714 CA middle schools
↓ 2.2 pts since 2022
🌱 Building Momentum

Every school has strengths the data doesn’t fully capture. Visit and see for yourself. Both outcomes and funding trail the state average

School Climate
56% of students attend consistently
Chronic absenteeism: 44.3% (state avg: 19.1%)
"Attend consistently" means missing ≤10% of school days (the chronic absenteeism threshold).
Minimal suspensions
1.2% suspension rate (state avg: 4.2%)
Share of students who received at least one suspension during the year.
Source: California Dept. of Education, 2024–25See breakdown by student group →

What the numbers actually mean

Most rating sites report "13% proficient" and stop there. We think that number deserves more context — here's what we found when we looked deeper:

0.0% of students exceeded standard? Level 4 on California's CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment — the state defines four levels: Not Met, Nearly Met, Met, and Exceeded. while 12.6% met it. That exceeded rate is 17.3 points below the state average of 17.3%. That's 4.3 points below the Konocti Unified district average of 4.3%. The gap between "met" and "exceeded" can reveal how much a school's curriculum challenges students beyond proficiency.

Richard H. Lewis Alternative
13%
California average
17%
22%
ExceededMet onlyBelow

California's Dashboard shows ELA performance maintained and Math increased year-over-year.

Chronic absenteeism? Missing 10%+ of enrolled school days. This is an official California Dashboard accountability indicator. is 44.3%, above the state average of 19.1%.

Data you won't find on other sites: Current-year 2025 data direct from CDE · The exceeded vs. met split that most rating sites collapse into one number

Why the exceeded vs. met split matters → · Scope Score is SchoolScope's analysis of CDE data — not an official CDE rating. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

No single score captures a school. This is a starting point — visit, ask questions, trust your instincts.

What this score doesn't capture
  • — Teaching quality, classroom culture, and how teachers connect with students
  • — Arts, athletics, extracurriculars, and enrichment programs
  • — How well the school serves students with IEPs or gifted learners
  • — Parent community engagement and satisfaction
  • — Whether the curriculum aligns with your family's values
  • — Growth data unavailable for this school — the score overweights proficiency, which tends to correlate with household income

Most of our data is updated once per year and may reflect the prior school year.


Before you visit
Questions worth asking and signals worth checking
What to verify
Chronic absenteeism at 44.3% — 25.2 points above state average. High absenteeism often reflects community stress or disengagement, not just individual behavior.
Who this school is great for
Families who value a smaller school community — 98 students
Families looking for a low-discipline-incident environment
Worth checking: Families wanting top-end academic rigor — more students meet the bar (13%) than exceed it (0%); Families sensitive to attendance culture — absenteeism is 25.2pp above state average
These reflect data patterns, not guarantees. Your child's experience will depend on their teacher, grade, and classroom — things no score captures.

Score Factors
Academic Performance
Holding back
Exceeded standard: 0.0%
17.3pp below state avg (state avg 17.3%)
43% weight

Exceeded rate gets the highest weight because it separates schools that clear the bar from those that raise it.

Limitation: Reflects tested students only — opt-out rates are not published by CDE.

CDE CAASPP 2025
Met or exceeded: 12.6%
26.9pp below state avg (state avg 39.5%)
22% weight

Overall proficiency provides the broadest measure of academic achievement.

Limitation: Combines ‘met’ and ‘exceeded’ — the gap between them matters more than either alone.

CDE CAASPP 2025
School Climate
Suspension rate: 1.2%
3.0pp below state avg (state avg 4.2%)
5% weight

Low suspension rates correlate with positive school culture and restorative practices.

Limitation: Schools may differ in reporting practices — some underreport to improve metrics.

CDE Discipline 2025
Holding back
Chronic absenteeism: 44.3%
25.2pp above state avg (state avg 19.1%)
10% weight

Absenteeism reflects school culture and family engagement — an official CA Dashboard accountability indicator.

Limitation: 10% threshold is the same for all schools regardless of demographics or geography.

CDE Attendance 2025
We make judgment calls about what matters. We believe exceeded scores reveal more than proficiency alone, and that growth matters more than raw test results. Reasonable people could weight these differently — and that's fine. The factors above show exactly what we weighted and why, so you can decide where you agree and where you'd adjust. The middle school Scope Score uses 4 dimensions. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

The Scope Score emphasizes academic performance. It weights test proficiency, the exceeded-vs-met gap, and growth trajectory most heavily. If your family prioritizes arts, athletics, school culture, or teaching philosophy, this score captures some of that indirectly (through absenteeism and suspension) but not all of it. Different families should weight these dimensions differently — the score factors above let you see exactly what drives this number.

How to use this
  • Use for long-term academic patterns, not this week's classroom experience
  • Verify with a recent visit — scores can't capture a school mid-transformation
  • Combine with local context — talk to parents, attend a school board meeting, trust your gut

Community Profile
Context — not part of the Scope Score

Student demographics

Hispanic25.5%
White55.1%
Black4.1%
Other15.3%
GenderFemale 56.1%Male 41.8%Non-binary 2.0%
Resources & Access
Enrollment
98
1,102 below CA avg (~1,200)
Free/Reduced Lunch
79%
15pp above CA avg (64%)
Student-Teacher Ratio
33:1
12 more students per teacher than CA avg
Per-Pupil Spending
$14,048
CA avg: $14,815 · District avg · NCES F-33
Teacher Salary Range
$59,679 – $110,407
District schedule · CA median ~$98K
At Richard H. Lewis Alternative in Clearlake, 14.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 18.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Richard H. Lewis Alternative trails its district average for low-income students by 3.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (0.0% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 27 students tested.
Equity Gaps
Absenteeism · Homeless+25.7pp
70.0% vs 44.3% overall · n=20

Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.

Subgroup Proficiency
Low-Income27 tested
ELA 14.8%·Math 0.0%· -3.8pp vs district

Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.

Subgroup Growth by Grade
Change in proficiency from lowest tested grade. Shows which groups are gaining ground.

Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

Funding Breakdown
Instruction 53%Support 45%Other 2%

Source: NCES F-33 (2019–2020) · Full district breakdown →

Neighborhood Context
Median Income
$41K
$44K below CA median
Median Home Value
$186K
$473K below CA median
Bachelor's+
9%
26pp below CA avg
Whole Child
Teacher experience, college/career readiness, and more. Context only — never part of the Scope Score.
Teacher Experience
11.5 years avg experience
8 teachers · 25% second-year
Teacher Credentials
47% fully credentialed

Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25

Community Profile provides context about who attends this school and the resources available. These factors are never part of the Scope Score. Learn why →

4-year trend

1513'22'23'24'25
↓ 2.2 points since 2022
Rank: #1589 → #1627 → #1637 → #1682Exceeded: 1% → 0% → 1% → 0%
2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · Scope Score based on CAASPP, absenteeism & suspension data

How Richard H. Lewis Alternative compares

Richard H. Lewis Alternative vs. California averages — 2025 CAASPP data
MetricThis schoolCA avg
Exceeded Standard0.0%17.3%
Met or Exceeded12.6%39.5%
Chronic Absenteeism44.3%19.1%
Suspension Rate1.2%4.2%

Source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025 · Analyzed by SchoolScope

Grade trajectory

How proficiency compares across grade levels this year (different students, same test year)

ELA Trajectory
25%19.1%G7G8
Math Trajectory
6.3%0%G7G8

ELA scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
3rd
4th6
5th
6th7
7th160.0%25.0%25.0%50.0%25.0%
8th210.0%19.1%23.8%57.1%19.1%
11th110.0%36.4%27.3%36.4%36.4%

Math scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
3rd
4th5
5th
6th7
7th160.0%6.3%18.8%75.0%6.3%
8th210.0%0.0%19.1%81.0%0.0%
11th110.0%0.0%9.1%90.9%0.0%

Science scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
8th360.0%2.8%50.0%47.2%2.8%

36 students tested · CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually like ELA/Math. Not included in the Scope Score. · Data source: CDE CAST 2025


Frequently asked questions

Is Richard H. Lewis Alternative a good middle school?
Richard H. Lewis Alternative has a Scope Score of 13 out of 100, placing it in the 2nd percentile of California middle schools and ranked #1,682 statewide. 0.0% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 17.3 percentage points below the California average of 17.3%. The Scope Score weights five dimensions: the exceeded-vs-met split (45%), proficiency (25%), grade-level growth (15%), chronic absenteeism (10%), and suspension rate (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.
What are Richard H. Lewis Alternative's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 12.6% of students at Richard H. Lewis Alternative met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 0.0% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 12.6% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 0.0% pushed past it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it reveals whether a school's curriculum challenges students beyond minimum proficiency or paces toward it. 74 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Richard H. Lewis Alternative rank in California?
Richard H. Lewis Alternative ranks #1,682 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 2nd percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), grade-level growth (Grade 6 to grade 8 growth), chronic absenteeism, and suspension rate. Unlike single-number ratings, the Scope Score shows what drives the ranking so parents can decide what matters most to their family. See full methodology.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Richard H. Lewis Alternative?
44.3% of students at Richard H. Lewis Alternative are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 19.1%. The suspension rate is 1.2%, indicating a low-discipline-incident environment. SchoolScope includes these culture metrics in the Scope Score because they reflect day-to-day school experience in ways test scores alone cannot.
How does Richard H. Lewis Alternative compare to other schools in Clearlake?
Richard H. Lewis Alternative scores 13/100 (2nd percentile) among California middle schools. To compare with nearby schools, SchoolScope shows the same metrics side by side: exceeded rate, proficiency, growth trajectory, and school culture indicators. The school serves 98 students. Use the schools in Clearlake page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.
How does Richard H. Lewis Alternative serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Richard H. Lewis Alternative in Clearlake, 14.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 18.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Richard H. Lewis Alternative trails its district average for low-income students by 3.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (0.0% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 27 students tested. SchoolScope shows disaggregated test scores by demographic subgroup so you can see how a school performs for your child's specific group — not just the school-wide average. Subgroup data is context, not part of the Scope Score: we don't penalize schools for who they serve. See our equity approach.

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Data source: California Department of Education (2025 test year) · How we score · Explore all schools · Blog