Summary
Sparrow Academy is a small K–5 school in La Mesa, with 156 students—fewer than any of the 10 nearby schools in this comparison. Its latest available test results, for 2024–2025, were below California’s in English language arts (ELA), math and science. ELA was its strongest subject relative to the state, while math was its weakest: 22% of students were proficient in math, compared with 37% statewide. The most important concern is that Sparrow ranked second-lowest among the 11 schools in all three subjects, with only EJE Elementary Academy Charter scoring lower.
ELA is a relative bright spot, but Sparrow’s results were still well below nearby-school averages in every subject. In 2024–2025, 43% of Sparrow students were proficient in ELA, 22% in math and 23% in science, compared with nearby-school averages of 57%, 50% and 43%, respectively. Sparrow was below the state by 6 percentage points in ELA, 15 in math and 10 in science. Results for La Mesa-Spring Valley were also higher—48% in ELA, 37% in math and 33% in science—but these are not Sparrow’s own district results. No test results are provided for Sparrow Academy District.
Math has declined most sharply over time: proficiency fell from 44% in 2022–2023 to 22% in 2024–2025, while ELA moved from 55% to 43% and science from 30% to 23%, after a temporary rise in 2023–2024. SchoolDigger ranked Sparrow at the 36th percentile with 2 stars in 2024–2025, down from the 66th percentile and 3 stars in 2022–2023; its nearby schools averaged the 69th percentile. The student–teacher ratio was 22.2, below all nearby schools, and 34% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025, below the nearby-school average of 48%. SchoolDigger’s statewide measure of how well the school serves White students ranked Sparrow at the 10th percentile, compared with the school’s overall 36th percentile; for Low Socio Economic Status Students, it ranked at the 23rd percentile, down from the 67th in 2022–2023. The district comparison and school-to-school test averages provide context, since Sparrow’s own district results are not available.
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