Lloyd Diedrichsen Elementary

Lloyd Diedrichsen Elementary is a PK–5 school at 1735 Del Rosa Way in Sparks, Nevada, serving 312 students in the Washoe County School District, in the older northern Sparks area where it generally outperforms nearby schools academically while spending less per student than most of them.

On 2025-26 state tests, 46.2% of Diedrichsen students met standards in math and 53.7% in reading — roughly 9 points above both district and state averages — while science results were suppressed by the state, so that subject's standing is genuinely unknown rather than a weakness. Chronic absenteeism is a headline strength at 15.1%, well below the district's 27.5% and the state's 25.5%, and the school has never reached district or state levels in five reported years. Diedrichsen spends $13,643 per student, about 12% below the average of its ten closest peers, yet outperforms several that spend $3,000–$5,000 more, including Jerry Whitehead Elementary and Robert Mitchell Elementary. Within one mile, it clearly outranks Katherine Dunn Elementary and Jerry Whitehead, but Marvin Moss Elementary — less than a mile away, with nearly identical enrollment — ranks higher overall (88th percentile, 64.7% math, 66.1% reading) and is the clearest local benchmark for what the top of this neighborhood's range looks like.

The school's strengths are not uniform across grade levels. Third- and fourth-grade reading run 12–14 points above the district, but fifth-grade reading at 47.4% falls 6.3 points below the district, and fifth-grade math is merely level with it. After climbing from the 46th percentile in 2022-23 to the 73rd in 2024-25, Diedrichsen slipped to the 68th percentile and from four stars to three in 2025-26 — a softening rather than a reversal. Class size has improved, with the student-teacher ratio down from 18.1 to 15.7, and the school has historically shown strong results for special education students (86th percentile in the most recent available subgroup ranking, from 2017-18).