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Foundations Academy · MatherPublic

Foundations Academy: The state doesn't publish enough data to score this school fairly.

Foundations Academy is an elementary school in Mather. The state doesn't publish enough data to score it fairly — so we won't. Here's what we can show.

No Scope Score available

California doesn't publicly report per-grade test results when fewer than 11 students are tested in a grade — a privacy protection for small schools. We can't compute a Scope Score without that data.

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits well below the middle of California elementary schools in reading. We show it; we don't score it.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −47 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 1st percentile of 7,519 reported schools.1st pctile · −47 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California elementary school lands at +2 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −5 and +9 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

Worth a school visit

With little published data, a visit does the heavy lifting: ask about class sizes, teacher tenure, and where last year's students went next.

  • Ask about typical class sizes and the student-teacher ratio.
  • Ask how long teachers have stayed at the school.
  • Ask where recent graduates or transfers went next.
  • Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom, and watch how a lesson actually runs.

Where the path goes

Foundations Academy serves grades Pre-K-12 — students can complete their entire Pre-K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 9:1, district 19:19:1
Teaching staff21 teachers
Avg. experience12.8 years
Fully credentialed65%
Intern / emergency permit3.9%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$65,749 – $115,283
Principal salary$163,220 – $163,220
Superintendent salary$372,091

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $95,330, CA average $14,491$95,330 · spent at this school
Federal share$1,971 per student

$1,971 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction10%
Instruction support77%
Student services3%
Administration7%
Buildings & maintenance2%
Other1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$90,803 per pupil
2019$80,857 per pupil
2018$95,020 per pupil
2017$40,015 per pupil
2016$34,303 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic37.4%
District 28.1% · CA 56.1%
White26.9%
District 9.7% · CA 19.9%
Black15.2%
District 46.2% · CA 4.8%
Asian10.5%
District 2.7% · CA 10.2%
Other9.9%
District 13.3% · CA 9.0%
GenderFemale 34.5%Male 65.5%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 30.4% (33pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$144K · CA $85K
Median home value$588K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+38% · CA 35%
ZIP population4,901
Median age35 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Worth Knowing

At 171 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).

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.


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