Merced Scholars Charter: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Merced Scholars Charter posts low test scores — and suspensions run below the state rate (1.0% vs 1.6%). 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 | 20 | 0% | 9% | — | 14.4% | 1.0% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Merced Scholars Charter scores 20 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 3rd 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “9% proficient” and call it done. Merced Scholars Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Merced, where three in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Test scores are one lens, and at this school they're a rough one right now. The sections below show the fuller picture — including the parts that are working.
As a charter, Merced Scholars 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 49th to the 3rd percentile since 2022.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 13% | — | — | 9% |
| Grade 4 | — | 14% | — | — | 9% |
| Grade 5 | — | 39% | 35% | 25% | — |
| Grade 6 | — | 48% | 23% | 37% | 26% |
| Grade 7 | 18% | 17% | 46% | 40% | 26% |
| Grade 8 | 46% | 34% | 29% | 32% | 48% |
| Grade 11 | 53% | 54% | 24% | 49% | 56% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 13% | — | — | 8% |
| Grade 4 | — | 10% | — | — | 9% |
| Grade 5 | — | 6% | 5% | 0% | — |
| Grade 6 | — | 10% | 8% | 0% | 5% |
| Grade 7 | 6% | 7% | 28% | 20% | 7% |
| Grade 8 | 17% | 13% | 10% | 7% | 20% |
| Grade 11 | 3% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 6% |
The 4 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 Merced Scholars Charter in Merced, 35.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 15.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Merced Scholars Charter outperforms its district average for low-income students by 20.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (8.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (35.8% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 7.0 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 95 students tested.
8 of 14 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 7–8 students (31.3% vs 6.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
Where the path goes
Merced Scholars 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.
$421 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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 25% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Merced Scholars Charter a good elementary school?
What are Merced Scholars Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Merced Scholars Charter rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Merced Scholars Charter?
How does Merced Scholars Charter compare to other schools in Merced?
How does Merced Scholars Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 36
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 | 11 | 0% | 9% | 18% | 73% | 9% | −34 |
| Grade 4 | 11 | 0% | 9% | 0% | 91% | 9% | −36 |
| Grade 5 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 6 | 19 | 0% | 26% | 16% | 58% | 26% | −20 |
| Grade 7 | 31 | 10% | 16% | 42% | 32% | 26% | −22 |
| Grade 8 | 23 | 17% | 30% | 22% | 30% | 48% | +2 |
| Grade 11 | 36 | 19% | 36% | 25% | 19% | 56% | +8 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 12 | 0% | 8% | 25% | 67% | 8% | −37 |
| Grade 4 | 11 | 0% | 9% | 0% | 91% | 9% | −33 |
| Grade 5 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 6 | 19 | 0% | 5% | 21% | 74% | 5% | −30 |
| Grade 7 | 30 | 0% | 7% | 33% | 60% | 7% | −27 |
| Grade 8 | 25 | 4% | 16% | 24% | 56% | 20% | −12 |
| Grade 11 | 36 | 0% | 6% | 28% | 67% | 6% | −18 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 67 | 3% | 22% | 63% | 12% |
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 | 95 | 35.2% | +20 | −3 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 71 | 35.8% | +23 | −3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merced Scholars Charter ← | — | 20 | 0.0% | 8.9% | — | 1.0% |
| John Muir Elementary | 2.1 mi | 37 | 6.2% | 21.1% | +9.8 | 7.5% |
| Joe Stefani | 2.8 mi | 37 | 11.3% | 30.4% | +9.6 | 10.5% |
| Farmdale Elementary | 1.9 mi | 35 | 16.9% | 40.3% | −40.8 | 1.3% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36 | 49 | #2912 | 8.6% | 15.8% | 34.3% | 0.0% | +8.9pp |
| 2023 | 30 | 26 | #4242 | 12.5% | 20.0% | 30.6% | 0.2% | — |
| 2024 | 30 | 19 | #4668 | 0.0% | 12.5% | 15.9% | 0.8% | — |
| 2025 | 20 | 3 | #5591 | 0.0% | 8.9% | 14.4% | 1.0% | — |
- — Growth data isn't available — the state needs matched grades across years to compute it.
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 12.5% | 11.3% | -1.2pp |
| Male | 12.3% | 13.2% | +0.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 9.0% | 13.7% | +4.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 9.1% | 8.7% | -0.4pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.0% | 12.1% | -3.9pp |
| All Students | 12.4% | 12.0% | -0.4pp |
| Asian | — | 0.0% | — |
| Two or More Races | — | 28.6% | — |
| English Learners | — | 15.6% | — |
| Homeless | — | 33.3% | — |
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