Summary
Rise is a small middle school in Lancaster, California, serving grades 4–8 with 16 students in Lancaster Elementary. The most important finding is that Rise had the lowest reported all-grades proficiency among 10 nearby schools in all three tested subjects in 2025–26: 3% in English language arts (ELA), 0% in math and 0% in science.
Rise has no tested subject in which it outperformed a nearby school, and its results were well below district and state rates. ELA proficiency was 22 percentage points below Lancaster Elementary’s 25% and 46 points below the state’s 49%; math was 15 points below the district and 38 below the state, while science was 17 and 36 points lower. Its ELA result was also 11 points below the next-lowest nearby rate, at Piute Middle; in math, it was 7 points below New Vista Middle, and in science, 5 points below Gifford C. Cole Middle. Chronic absenteeism is another concern: 58% in 2025–26, versus 32% in the district and 18% statewide, and higher than every nearby school, whose rates ranged from 5% to 46%.
Results remain low over time, although attendance has improved. ELA proficiency fell from 9% in 2022–23 to 3% in 2025–26, despite a 3-point rise from 0% the year before; over the same period, the state rate rose from 47% to 49%, widening Rise’s gap by 9 points. Chronic absenteeism declined from 91% in 2022–23 to 58% in 2025–26, a 33-point improvement, but remains high. SchoolDigger ranks Rise in the 0th percentile statewide (2,700 of 2,703) and gives it 0 stars; it was also in the 0th percentile in 2024–25, after the 2nd percentile in 2023–24. Its 2024–25 student–teacher ratio was 5.3, compared with 17.4–31.9 at nearby schools. In 2024–25, 81% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible, close to the nearby-school average of 79%. Enrollment is only 16, and Rise’s grade 4–6 test results are suppressed, so the available scores do not show how those grades compare.
Thank you for your feedback!