Summary:
Zip code 22503, located in Lancaster, Virginia, contains a single high school: Lancaster High, which serves grades 8-12. Because it is the only comprehensive high school in Lancaster County Public Schools, district-level statistics are essentially identical to the school's own numbers. The school has 402 students, a 10.9 student-teacher ratio, and 100% of students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch, indicating a very high-poverty population.
Despite the poverty level, Lancaster High has clear strengths. 8th-grade Algebra I students achieved 100% proficiency in both 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, well above state averages. 10th-grade Biology also impressed in 2025-2026 with 87.64% proficiency versus the state's 68.86%, and 12th-grade World History I hit 100% in 2024-2025. The school's state ranking has improved steadily from 270th in 2023-2024 to 223rd in 2025-2026, moving from a 1-star to a 2-star rating.
However, there are real concerns. VA & US History proficiency was just 25% in 2025-2026, far below the state's 34.52%, and English Reading at both 8th and 11th grades trails state averages. Chronic absenteeism is a significant problem, with 24% of students chronically absent compared to 14.8% statewide, which likely impacts achievement. The graduation rate of 91.8% is close to the state's 92.3%, and the dropout rate of 3.4% is actually lower than the state's 5.0%. Parents should also note that small cohort sizes can cause large year-to-year swings — 8th-grade math jumped from 25.93% to 47.37% — so individual subject scores should be viewed with some caution.
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