Summary
Bancroft Elementary serves 391 students in grades K–8 in Spring Valley, within the La Mesa-Spring Valley district. In 2025–26, all-grade proficiency was 23% in English Language Arts (ELA), 20% in math, and 16% in science. Chronic absenteeism has improved from its earlier peak, but remains the most pressing concern: at 33%, it was higher than at every nearby school with a reported rate.
Achievement is low compared with both the state and district, and Bancroft was among the weakest of the nearby schools. Its ELA, math, and science results were below the state’s 49%, 38%, and 36%, respectively, and below district results of 50%, 39%, and 36%. Among five nearby schools in the same district, Bancroft had the lowest ELA and math results and the second-lowest science result; its results were about 11 points lower in ELA, 8 points lower in math, and 8 points lower in science than the group averages. There is a grade-level bright spot: Bancroft’s third-grade math result of 35% led those five schools, although it remained below the state and district. Fifth-grade math, at 10%, was the lowest in that group.
Results have risen since 2022–23, especially in science, which increased 14 points; math rose 7 points, while ELA rose 2. The gap with the state narrowed in math and science but widened by 1 point in ELA. SchoolDigger ranks Bancroft at the 13th percentile with 1 star in 2025–26, up from the 6th percentile in 2021–22 but still near the bottom of its nearby group. In 2024–25, 93% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible, the highest rate among nearby schools with the same measure and year; California is marked as a statewide free-meals state in the data. The student-teacher ratio was 25.7, close to the nearby-school median of 25.2. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for English Language Learner Students was 35th in 2023–24, compared with 10th for the school overall, indicating a stronger relative ranking for that group, though it had fallen from 46th in 2021–22. Its Special Education Students percentile also shifted sharply, from 36th in 2024–25 to 13th in 2025–26, while the overall percentile moved from 11th to 13th.
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