Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.
Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley pairs 55% proficiency with gains that hold up when the same students are tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 63 | 25% | 55% | +8.4 | 14.0% | 2.0% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley scores 63 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 85th 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “55% proficient” and call it done. Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley deserves a closer read. The school sits in Petaluma, where one in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley's low-income kids hit 54.5% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
As a charter, Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 71st to the 85th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 700 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 55% of students meet the standard today, above the 42% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 33% | 47% | 42% | 46% | 54% |
| Grade 4 | 53% | 62% | 57% | 67% | 51% |
| Grade 5 | 67% | 61% | 64% | 64% | 65% |
| Grade 6 | 65% | 53% | 73% | 48% | 60% |
| Grade 7 | 68% | 58% | 56% | 78% | 71% |
| Grade 8 | 74% | 64% | 49% | 59% | 63% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 18% | 31% | 32% | 39% | 47% |
| Grade 4 | 40% | 64% | 57% | 64% | 58% |
| Grade 5 | 39% | 45% | 48% | 51% | 53% |
| Grade 6 | 48% | 39% | 45% | 36% | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 43% | 35% | 51% | 61% | 56% |
| Grade 8 | 44% | 32% | 31% | 48% | 50% |
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 honest read: the share exceeding rises 5.2pp across grades; the floor rises 10.9pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Kids here gain ground the longer they stay — the pattern you want to see. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley's most underrated number
54.5% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 5 things our score weighs
Ask what changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find it.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley in Petaluma, 54.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 41.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley outperforms its district average for low-income students by 13.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (41.4% Math proficient); White students (61.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 11.8 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 88 students tested.
6 of 12 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 23.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +23.3pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (22.1% vs 10.9%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
What gets spent here
$23 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 54% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley a good elementary school?
What are Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley's CAASPP test scores?
How does Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley rank in California?
Is Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley?
How does Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley compare to other schools in Petaluma?
How does Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 64
Nearby High Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 37
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
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 | 54 | 24% | 30% | 28% | 19% | 54% | +10 |
| Grade 4 | 53 | 28% | 23% | 23% | 26% | 51% | +6 |
| Grade 5 | 65 | 29% | 35% | 26% | 9% | 65% | +17 |
| Grade 6 | 63 | 13% | 48% | 27% | 13% | 60% | +14 |
| Grade 7 | 41 | 22% | 49% | 20% | 10% | 71% | +23 |
| Grade 8 | 49 | 29% | 35% | 29% | 8% | 63% | +17 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 53 | 17% | 30% | 30% | 23% | 47% | +1 |
| Grade 4 | 53 | 28% | 30% | 28% | 13% | 58% | +17 |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 25% | 28% | 25% | 22% | 53% | +18 |
| Grade 6 | 63 | 17% | 17% | 38% | 27% | 35% | −0 |
| Grade 7 | 41 | 17% | 39% | 27% | 17% | 56% | +22 |
| Grade 8 | 48 | 33% | 17% | 21% | 29% | 50% | +18 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 114 | 19% | 34% | 41% | 5% |
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 | 88 | 54.5% | +13 | +16 |
| White | 236 | 61.9% | −2 | +0 |
| Two or More Races | 22 | 54.5% | −10 | −7 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley ← | — | 63 | 25.3% | 54.7% | +8.4 | 2.0% |
| Sonoma Mountain Elementary | 2.1 mi | 68 | 50.7% | 79.5% | −14.5 | 0.1% |
| Meadow Elementary | 1.6 mi | 68 | 50.4% | 76.5% | −15.3 | 0.6% |
| Grant Elementary | 2.1 mi | 57 | 42.9% | 72.2% | −10.3 | 1.5% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 53 | 71 | #1588 | 16.3% | 41.5% | 6.4% | 5.2% | +27.5pp |
| 2022 | 54 | 82 | #1043 | 22.1% | 51.7% | 26.9% | 0.4% | +13.8pp |
| 2023 | 56 | 80 | #1142 | 23.2% | 50.0% | 22.2% | 1.1% | +18.9pp |
| 2024 | 61 | 83 | #968 | 23.2% | 55.1% | 14.1% | 0.5% | +15.0pp |
| 2025 | 63 | 85 | #857 | 25.3% | 54.7% | 14.0% | 2.0% | +8.4pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 6.8% | 13.5% | +6.7pp |
| Male | 5.6% | 14.1% | +8.5pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.8% | 18.3% | +13.5pp |
| Two or More Races | 4.0% | 8.9% | +4.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 11.8% | 17.6% | +5.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 6.4% | 16.4% | +10.0pp |
| All Students | 6.3% | 13.7% | +7.4pp |
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