Rise, Lancaster CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Rise

RISE is a small alternative school in Lancaster serving kindergarten through eighth grade, though it currently enrolls a handful of students concentrated in the upper grades. It is a traditional public school and part of the Lancaster Elementary School District.

The school's enrollment of about ten students is extremely small, with nearly all of them in eighth grade. All students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a population facing economic hardship. The student body is racially diverse, with roughly equal shares of Black, white, and Hispanic enrollment.

State testing data for RISE shows zero proficiency in both English language arts and mathematics at eighth grade in the most recent assessment year. State testing results for fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades are suppressed, which typically reflects very small numbers of test-takers in those grades, consistent with the school's enrollment distribution. A science assessment in eighth grade also showed zero proficiency. The one older data point available, from 2012-13, showed that only a small fraction of eighth-graders met the proficiency standard in social studies.

RISE sits at the bottom quartile for overall proficiency when compared to the other school sites serving its county. A parent may want to look into this further with the school: the extremely small enrollment, the concentration in eighth grade, and the zero proficiency results all point to a school facing substantial academic challenges. Understanding the school's model, the reasons families choose it, and what support or intervention the district is providing would be important before enrollment.

Lancaster itself is a mid-sized charter city in the Antelope Valley region of northern Los Angeles County. The city has redeveloped its downtown, The BLVD, into a mixed-use cultural and civic hub, anchored by the public library, performing arts center, and museums. The broader city is typical high-desert sprawl, car-dependent outside the downtown core. Major employers in the region include aerospace and defense contractors, healthcare, and education. The regional economy has diversified beyond its aerospace roots, with renewable energy and technology sectors growing. Housing remains relatively affordable compared to much of greater Los Angeles, though home values have declined modestly in recent years.

The Lancaster School District has recently won voter approval for a substantial facilities bond to address aging school buildings and infrastructure across the system, many of which were built decades ago.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 10% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 26% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 44 pts below state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 14% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 38% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

This schoolLancaster Elementary, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.