Signal Hill School District 181

Signal Hill School District 181 has one listed school, Signal Hill Elementary School, serving PK–8 and enrolling 291 students, so there is no school-to-school comparison. In 2025–26, the school’s all-grades results were below state averages in both English language arts (ELA), 40% versus 56%, and math, 25% versus 40%. The most important finding is that the school’s gaps with the state widened in both subjects compared with the prior year.

As the district’s only school, Signal Hill is both its top and bottom performer; the clearest bright spot is grade 5 science, while the largest reported weakness is grade 4 ELA. Grade 5 science was 54%, 7 percentage points above the state’s 48%, whereas grade 4 ELA was 24%, 32 points below the state’s 56%. Every reported ELA grade was below its state comparison, with gaps ranging from 5 points in grade 3 to 32 points in grade 4. Science results differed by grade: grade 8 was 44%, 8 points below the state’s 52%.

Recent trends reinforce the concern in core subjects, though science offers a mixed picture. The ELA gap widened by 9 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26, and the math gap widened by 8 points; school scores fell in both subjects while state results rose. Grade 5 science, by contrast, increased from 17% to 54%, while grade 8 science slipped from 47% to 44%. SchoolDigger’s ranking percentile declined from 55 in 2023–24 to 30 in 2025–26. For context, the school’s 2024–25 student–teacher ratio was 8.3, spending was $21,633 per student, and 63% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible. These figures describe the school but do not establish why results are at their current levels.