Forest Charter: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Forest Charter posts low test scores — and grade 5 tests above grade 3 here this year, by 6.3pp. If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 28 | 12% | 29% | +6.3 | 8.1% | 0.1% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Forest Charter scores 28 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 14th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “29% proficient” and call it done. Forest Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Nevada City, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 8.1% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
As a charter, Forest Charter enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 52nd to the 14th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 29% meet the standard today, versus 41% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 57% | 39% | 59% | 21% | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 40% | 53% | 41% | 43% | 29% |
| Grade 5 | 50% | 40% | 52% | 41% | 36% |
| Grade 6 | 41% | 45% | 37% | 39% | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 44% | 44% | 58% | 43% | 46% |
| Grade 8 | 55% | 59% | 38% | 49% | 48% |
| Grade 11 | 74% | 68% | 54% | 49% | 51% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 41% | 33% | 45% | 22% | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 30% | 44% | 30% | 35% | 30% |
| Grade 5 | 31% | 24% | 32% | 25% | 28% |
| Grade 6 | 31% | 40% | 16% | 24% | 23% |
| Grade 7 | 29% | 37% | 46% | 26% | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 41% | 43% | 23% | 31% | 28% |
| Grade 11 | 29% | 30% | 19% | 25% | 20% |
The story this school is actually telling
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The 5 things our score weighs
Ask what changed in the last two years, and what the school is asking families for. Growth shows up in these numbers a year or two after it shows up in classrooms.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Forest Charter in Nevada City, 28.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 30.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Forest Charter trails its district average for low-income students by 2.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (18.2% Math proficient); White students (42.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 21.5 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 185 students tested.
9 of 16 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 15.0pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +15.9pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 9–12 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of TK/K students (14.3% vs 1.2%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Forest Charter serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$262 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
At 845 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 31% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Forest Charter a good elementary school?
What are Forest Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Forest Charter rank in California?
Is Forest Charter getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Forest Charter?
How does Forest Charter compare to other schools in Nevada City?
How does Forest Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 47 | 13% | 13% | 36% | 38% | 26% | −18 |
| Grade 4 | 56 | 14% | 14% | 30% | 41% | 29% | −16 |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 10% | 26% | 19% | 45% | 36% | −12 |
| Grade 6 | 70 | 9% | 23% | 27% | 41% | 31% | −15 |
| Grade 7 | 57 | 14% | 32% | 28% | 26% | 46% | −2 |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 9% | 39% | 33% | 20% | 48% | +1 |
| Grade 11 | 76 | 20% | 32% | 30% | 18% | 51% | +4 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 46 | 7% | 20% | 30% | 43% | 26% | −20 |
| Grade 4 | 54 | 13% | 17% | 24% | 46% | 30% | −12 |
| Grade 5 | 57 | 12% | 16% | 21% | 51% | 28% | −7 |
| Grade 6 | 69 | 6% | 17% | 20% | 57% | 23% | −12 |
| Grade 7 | 57 | 11% | 25% | 26% | 39% | 35% | +1 |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 9% | 19% | 26% | 46% | 28% | −5 |
| Grade 11 | 75 | 13% | 7% | 29% | 51% | 20% | −3 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 202 | 7% | 23% | 58% | 11% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 185 | 28.2% | −3 | −10 |
| White | 339 | 42.9% | +1 | −19 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 46 | 34.8% | +1 | −4 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Charter ← | — | 28 | 11.5% | 29.0% | +6.3 | 0.1% |
| Twin Ridges Home Study Charter | 0.6 mi | 27 | 8.2% | 29.5% | −3.0 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 43 | 52 | #2619 | 16.0% | 41.3% | 6.1% | 0.2% | -8.4pp |
| 2022 | 39 | 57 | #2482 | 13.2% | 38.6% | 7.1% | 0.1% | -4.1pp |
| 2023 | 41 | 56 | #2538 | 20.6% | 43.3% | 9.2% | 0.7% | -10.1pp |
| 2024 | 38 | 38 | #3528 | 12.7% | 31.0% | 8.7% | 0.3% | +11.1pp |
| 2025 | 28 | 14 | #4960 | 11.5% | 29.0% | 8.1% | 0.1% | +6.3pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 10 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.1% | 6.9% | -0.2pp |
| Male | 4.7% | 7.5% | +2.8pp |
| Asian | 5.9% | — | — |
| Black/African American | 0.0% | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | 12.3% | 7.8% | -4.5pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.0% | — | — |
| Two or More Races | 6.7% | 12.0% | +5.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 8.3% | 9.8% | +1.5pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.8% | 10.1% | +0.3pp |
| All Students | 6.0% | 7.2% | +1.2pp |
| Homeless | — | 21.4% | — |
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction