Summary
Lincoln High is a San Diego, California, high school in San Diego Unified, serving grades 9–12 with 1,487 students. Its latest results show proficiency well below state and district levels in every tested subject: about 30% in English language arts (ELA), 14% in math and 12% in science, compared with 49%, 38% and 36% statewide. Chronic absenteeism is also high at 33%, versus 18% statewide and 17% districtwide. The most important concern is that low test proficiency across all three subjects coincides with many students missing school.
The school’s relative strength is ELA, while math is furthest behind the district: ELA proficiency trails the state by 19 percentage points and the district by 24; math trails by 25 and 32 points. Against nearby grades 9–12 schools with results, ELA and science stand out as the largest gaps. The average for Crawford High, Morse High and Sweetwater High was 51% in ELA, 17% in math and 26% in science, compared with Lincoln’s 30%, 14% and 12%. Its graduation rate is a clear bright spot: 92.4%, above the state’s 87.9% and just above the district’s 91.9%. Absenteeism has improved from 47% in 2021–2022, but remains high; only nearby Trace had a higher 2025–2026 rate among the cited San Diego Unified schools.
Over the longer term, proficiency has risen since 2022–2023: ELA by 7 points, math by 10 and science by 5. However, ELA and science fell from the prior year, by 5 and 4 points, while math rose by 2. SchoolDigger ranks the school in the state’s 24th percentile with 1 star for 2025–2026, down from the 30th percentile the year before. Its student-teacher ratio was 24 in 2024–2025; 90% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that school year. SchoolDigger’s subgroup rankings show a notably lower standing for Multi-racial Students: the 7th percentile, compared with the school’s overall 24th percentile in 2025–2026. Its English Language Learner Students ranking also dropped from the 48th to the 24th percentile between 2022–2023 and 2023–2024; no 2025–2026 ELL ranking was provided.
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