Grass Valley Elementary

Grass Valley Elementary includes four schools serving grades K–8: three elementary schools and one middle school, with 1,613 students overall. The schools average 41% proficiency in all-grades ELA, compared with 49% statewide, and three of the four are below the state; the area’s clearest concern is ELA.

Grass Valley Charter stands out in ELA, leading the schools at 51% and finishing 2 points above the state. Bell Hill Academy leads math at 44%, 6 points above the state, with Charter close behind at 43%. At the lower end, Margaret G. Scotten Elementary has the lowest ELA result, 31%, or 18 points below the state; Lyman Gilmore Middle has the lowest math result, 25%, or 13 points below. SchoolDigger ranks Charter at the 59th statewide percentile, Bell Hill at the 52nd, Lyman at the 38th, and Scotten at the 27th. Grade results add nuance: Bell Hill’s third-grade math is 60%, while its fourth-grade math is 28%.

Recent results moved in different directions: the four-school ELA average fell 4 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while the state rose by less than 1 point. Bell Hill’s ELA dropped 17 points, even as Charter and Lyman improved by 1 and 4 points. The math average fell 5 points, shifting from 3 points above the state to 3 points below. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings also declined for all four schools between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026, most sharply at Bell Hill, down 18 points. As additional context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 33% at Charter, 59% at Bell Hill, and 75% at Scotten; student-teacher ratios ranged from 19.2 at Lyman and Scotten to 23.7 at Charter. These are observations, not explanations for achievement differences. Science results are available for only Charter and Lyman, and school enrollment and grade spans differ.