POPE VALLEY: Four years ago, roughly one student in eight at Pope Valley Elementary School met California's reading and writing standards. This year, a clear majority did. The Pope Valley Union Elementary School District announced on Oct. 16 that 57 percent of its students met or exceeded English language arts standards in the 2025-26 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, ahead of Napa County at 44 percent and California at 49 percent.
The district's figures put English language arts proficiency at 57.14 percent, against 44.38 percent for Napa County and 49.26 percent statewide. The climb has been steep and steady on the district's own reporting: 12 percent proficient in 2022-23, 19 percent in 2023-24, and 26 percent in 2024-25, before more than doubling in a single year. The state's official CAASPP reporting carries the same 2024-25 baseline, listing Pope Valley at 25.93 percent in English language arts that year.
"For years, most of our students were not meeting the state's reading and writing standards. Today, we're outperforming both Napa County and California," said Kim Kern, superintendent and principal of Pope Valley Union Elementary School District. "What's especially meaningful is that we're seeing progress among students who deserve every opportunity to succeed. This is the result of teachers, students, and families working together with high expectations for every child."
Being a small rural school doesn't mean having small expectations.
Gains across the groups that started furthest behind
The district reported that 73 percent of its Latino students met or exceeded English language arts standards, and that 60 percent of its socioeconomically disadvantaged students achieved proficiency. It also reported a preliminary annual reclassification rate of 40 percent for English learners, with 4 out of 10 students reclassified as fluent English proficient during the 2025-26 school year.
Mathematics moved in the same direction, if less far. Math proficiency more than doubled over the past year, from 14 percent to 33.33 percent on the district's figures, placing Pope Valley ahead of the Napa County average of 31.77 percent and still below the statewide average of 38.35 percent. The state's CAASPP reporting lists the district's 2024-25 math figure at 14.29 percent, matching the district's rounded baseline.
Attendance and school climate moved with the scores
The district said chronic absenteeism fell from 62.5 percent in 2025 to 30.6 percent in 2026, a drop of nearly 32 percentage points, and that suspensions held at 0 percent for students suspended for at least one day in the latest reporting period. Its internal survey figures, reported together with School Dashboard measures, showed school connectedness rising from 46 percent to 82 percent, students feeling safe from 38 percent to 73 percent, students reporting caring adults on campus from 63 percent to 94 percent, and positive life satisfaction from 58 percent to 87 percent.
"Every child deserves access to excellent instruction, regardless of background, family income, or the size of the community where they live," Kern said. "Our goal is not simply to help students catch up. It's to help them thrive."
A turnaround with a paper trail
Pope Valley is a single-school district serving about 50 students in a remote corner of northeastern Napa County, so its percentages describe a small cohort and can swing sharply from year to year. The turnaround also follows a hard public examination. In April 2025, the Napa County Civil Grand Jury released its 2024-25 report on the district, faulting the district and its prior leadership over student safety, oversight, and academic performance, while finding that the superintendent and principal then in place had implemented policies and procedures to stabilize operations and improve academic instruction. The jury found no evidence of discrimination or unequal treatment toward Hispanic or Spanish-speaking families, while noting that a past lack of bilingual support had left communication gaps, and it found the school community divided over the changes.
The district credits the gains not to a single program but to a shift in instructional culture: intensive teacher coaching and continuous professional development, explicit literacy instruction with targeted writing development and differentiated support, and individualized interventions tailored to academic and language-learning needs.
"Being a small rural school doesn't mean having small expectations," Kern said. "It means we have an opportunity to know every child, recognize their strengths and challenges, and provide the kind of individual attention that helps them succeed."
The district says its work is not done. "We're proud of how far we've come, but we're not finished," Kern said. "Our focus now is sustaining these gains, continuing to strengthen mathematics, and making sure every student feels supported, challenged, and excited to learn."
