Summary
Shaffer Elementary serves 246 students in grades K–8 in Litchfield, near several other small schools in Lassen County. In 2025–2026, its proficiency rates were below California’s in English language arts (ELA), math, and science; the district’s results were identical to the school’s. The most important concern is math: 16% of students were proficient, 22 percentage points below the state, and the school ranked last in math among the four nearby K–8 schools with current results.
ELA is Shaffer’s strongest subject relative to the state and nearby K–8 schools, but it still trails both: 36% were proficient, compared with 49% statewide and a 44% average at nearby schools. Shaffer ranked third of four, ahead of Johnstonville Elementary and behind Richmond Elementary and Janesville Elementary. Third-grade ELA stands out as a relative bright spot: 47% were proficient, slightly above the state’s 44%. Science proficiency was 25%, 11 points below the state and below the nearby K–8 average of 37%. Math is especially weak in grades 6–8, where proficiency ranged from 3% to 14%.
Over four years, ELA proficiency rose 6 points to 36%, while math fell 8 points to 16% and science rose 3 points to 25%; Shaffer’s math gap with the state widened from 10 to 22 points. SchoolDigger ranks Shaffer at the 28th percentile and gives it 1 star for 2025–2026. In 2024–2025, its student–teacher ratio was 23.4, compared with a nearby average of 21.0, and 61% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible, above the nearby average of 55%. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 percentile for White Students was 11, below the school’s overall 28th percentile, indicating a weaker relative standing in serving this group. Its percentile for Low Socio Economic Status Students fell from 44 in 2023–2024 to 21 in 2025–2026, a steeper decline than the overall percentile, which fell from 42 to 28. Chronic absenteeism improved from 36% in 2022–2023 to 20% in 2025–2026, but remained 2 points above the state rate.
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