Academics at RVC

Academics and Inquiry-Based Learning

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand."

- Benjamin Franklin

This old proverb is a guiding principal at Ross Valley Charter. Collectively, we strive to inspire curious minds and collaborative environments for our students so that they can achieve deeper learning and acquire 21st century problem solving skills.

In a recent Edutopia piece on Inquiry Based Learning (collaborative and project based learning), it was found that active-learning practices, such as Inquiry, have a more significant impact on student performance than any other variable, including student background and prior achievement. For the full article, click here.

At RVC, our inquiry-based learning approach provides a creative and engaging environment that is not focused on test scores. Our students learn to collaborate, ask questions, and express their knowledge in different ways, while teachers engage students’ natural curiosity and desire to learn. This approach lets students build skills that standardized tests don’t measure — the behaviors, attitudes, and social-emotional skills that set students up for success in school and in life. And clearly, in taking a test.

RVC students explore history
Marin in 1850

Academic Success

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test is given each spring and is one measure of how RVC students in third, fourth, and fifth grade are performing. Below are CAASPP results from 2022 in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science for our two largest demographic subgroups–students who are not socio-economically disadvantaged and students who are socio-economically disadvantaged.  

For comparison purposes, and because we have committed to providing this information to families in our charter document, we have included results for equivalent student subgroups in Marin County, Ross Valley School District, and the State of California, averaging results from individual grades 3-5  For more detailed CAASPP results, see https://caaspp-elpac.ets.org/caaspp/

State Test Scores 1
Sate Test Scores 2
State Test Scores 3
State Test Scores 4
State Test Scores 5
State Test Scores 6

*Note the California Science Test (CAST) is only given in 5th grade

**For more information about criteria for the socio-economically disadvantaged subgroup click here.

More detailed results for RVC and other California schools can be found online. RVC is listed under the District SBE-Ross Valley Elementary. https://caaspp-elpac.cde.ca.gov/caaspp/