Grass Valley Elementary

Grass Valley Elementary is a public PK–4 school in Winnemucca, Nevada, serving 406 students in a rural area, with 99.75% eligible for free/reduced lunch in 2024–25. It is part of the Humboldt district. In 2025–26, it ranked 288 of 376 ranked Nevada schools (23rd percentile, 1 star), below the district's 33rd percentile and the weakest of the three local elementaries.

Compared with nearby Winnemucca Grammar School and Sonoma Heights Elementary, Grass Valley's biggest issue is reading. Its all-grade math score (35.7) is at the state average and above its district, and math has improved by 8.8 points over three years. Reading (26.5), however, is 18.7 points below the state and 6.8 points below its own district, and it fell 7.1 points in one year. Attendance is a strength: chronic absenteeism was 16.5% in 2024–25, better than district and state, and 25.3% in 2025–26, still best among the three peers. Class sizes are also smallest (15.6 students per teacher), with per-student spending at $17,768, second-highest locally. That suggests the challenge is instructional rather than a lack of staff or money.

Grade-level results show a split. Grass Valley's 4th-grade math score (39.6) is the highest in the peer group, and 4th graders outscore 3rd graders by 8.2 points—opposite the pattern at both nearby schools. But its 3rd-grade reading and math scores trail Sonoma Heights Elementary. All three Humboldt elementaries declined in 2025–26, yet Grass Valley is the lowest-ranked. The only subgroup effectiveness data is eight years old, so current performance for key student groups is unclear. Bottom line: this is a high-poverty, adequately resourced school with math at state average and strong attendance, but a school-specific reading problem is pulling down its overall standing. The next one to two years will show whether that reading dip is a trend or a fixable weakness.