Starr King K-8: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Starr King K-8 posts low test scores — and test scores are one lens among several. 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 | 21 | 3% | 10% | -7.6 | 28.2% | 3.3% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Starr King K-8 scores 21 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 4th 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 →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “10% proficient” and call it done. Starr King K-8 deserves a closer read. The school sits in Carmichael, where four in five 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.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 4th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 10% meet the standard today, versus 21% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 31% | 12% | 14% | 7% | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 20% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 5% |
| Grade 5 | 21% | 14% | 13% | 11% | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 22% | 15% | 31% | 18% | 22% |
| Grade 7 | 31% | 14% | 5% | 17% | 18% |
| Grade 8 | 19% | 11% | 17% | 18% | 10% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 20% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 18% | 4% | 6% | 12% | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 15% | 0% | 1% | 3% | 6% |
| Grade 6 | 16% | 8% | 12% | 6% | 3% |
| Grade 7 | 18% | 8% | 4% | 5% | 5% |
| Grade 8 | 3% | 6% | 14% | 3% | 5% |
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 6 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 how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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.
How every group of students does here
At Starr King K-8 in Carmichael, 10.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 29.1% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Starr King K-8 trails its district average for low-income students by 18.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (6.4% Math proficient); English Learner students (5.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 7.6 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 454 students tested.
5 of 15 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 falls by 2.9pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (47.7% vs 26.7%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$1,236 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
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 885 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), 8% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Starr King K-8 a good elementary school?
What are Starr King K-8's CAASPP test scores?
How does Starr King K-8 rank in California?
Is Starr King K-8 getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Starr King K-8?
How does Starr King K-8 compare to other schools in Carmichael?
How does Starr King K-8 serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 53
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 | 78 | 4% | 12% | 22% | 63% | 15% | −28 |
| Grade 4 | 79 | 0% | 5% | 23% | 72% | 5% | −40 |
| Grade 5 | 90 | 4% | 6% | 17% | 73% | 10% | −38 |
| Grade 6 | 79 | 4% | 18% | 33% | 46% | 22% | −25 |
| Grade 7 | 85 | 0% | 18% | 21% | 61% | 18% | −30 |
| Grade 8 | 90 | 2% | 8% | 26% | 64% | 10% | −36 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 88 | 6% | 10% | 22% | 63% | 16% | −30 |
| Grade 4 | 99 | 0% | 9% | 23% | 68% | 9% | −33 |
| Grade 5 | 99 | 1% | 5% | 11% | 83% | 6% | −29 |
| Grade 6 | 87 | 0% | 3% | 20% | 77% | 3% | −32 |
| Grade 7 | 99 | 0% | 5% | 18% | 77% | 5% | −29 |
| Grade 8 | 96 | 0% | 5% | 9% | 85% | 5% | −27 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 198 | 2% | 6% | 47% | 44% |
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 | 454 | 10.8% | −18 | −27 |
| English Learners | 291 | 5.5% | −0 | −5 |
| Asian | 232 | 9.1% | −20 | −65 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starr King K-8 ← | — | 21 | 2.5% | 10.3% | −7.6 | 3.3% |
| James R. Cowan Fundamental Elementary | 2 mi | 55 | 26.2% | 49.0% | +20.7 | 4.1% |
| Mariemont Elementary | 1.1 mi | 54 | 33.9% | 64.5% | +1.1 | 1.2% |
| Mary Deterding Elementary | 2 mi | 51 | 33.9% | 60.9% | +1.4 | 1.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 25 | 9 | #5018 | 7.7% | 20.8% | 24.1% | 6.5% | -7.7pp |
| 2022 | 11 | 1 | #5672 | 2.5% | 8.7% | 44.8% | 8.0% | -6.5pp |
| 2023 | 19 | 4 | #5500 | 4.4% | 9.7% | 40.2% | 6.7% | -7.2pp |
| 2024 | 17 | 2 | #5643 | 2.4% | 8.8% | 31.2% | 7.8% | -1.1pp |
| 2025 | 21 | 4 | #5539 | 2.5% | 10.3% | 28.2% | 3.3% | -7.6pp |
- — 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 27 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 20.5% | 28.9% | +8.4pp |
| Male | 27.5% | 28.7% | +1.2pp |
| Asian | 12.2% | 18.0% | +5.8pp |
| Black/African American | 34.5% | 48.6% | +14.1pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 30.2% | 45.5% | +15.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 37.7% | 51.9% | +14.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 30.1% | 50.5% | +20.4pp |
| English Learners | 12.1% | 20.8% | +8.7pp |
| Homeless | 50.5% | 43.6% | -6.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 24.4% | 28.5% | +4.1pp |
| All Students | 24.2% | 28.8% | +4.6pp |
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