Summary:
ZIP code 23702 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is served by exactly one elementary school: Cradock Elementary, a K–6 school in Portsmouth City Public Schools that enrolls 616 students, all of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Because Cradock is the only elementary school in this ZIP code, all comparisons are made against its district and the state of Virginia. The school remains in the bottom 7% of Virginia elementary schools, ranking 1,033rd out of 1,111 schools in 2025–2026, though that is a meaningful improvement from the 3rd percentile in each of the two prior years. Average SOL proficiency across all tested subjects rose from roughly 39.7% to 48.0% in one year—a gain of about 8.3 points, far outpacing the district’s 4.2-point improvement and the state’s 0.8-point gain. The clearest bright spot is 6th grade reading, where Cradock’s 67.09% proficiency is above the district’s 61.54% and only about 6 points below the state average; this subject also posted a stunning 22.93-point year-over-year jump. Another positive is chronic absenteeism: at 12.7%, Cradock beats both the district and state rate of 14.8%, despite serving a 100% poverty population. The biggest concerns are upper-elementary STEM subjects. Fifth grade math proficiency is 41.33%, which is 31 points below the state, and 5th grade science is just 38.67%, a 30-point gap. Fourth grade math also trails the state by nearly 29 points.
For parents, Cradock Elementary is a high-poverty school that still shows genuine forward momentum. The school’s per-student spending is $9,399, with a 19.2:1 student-teacher ratio, yet overall proficiency remains roughly 23 points below the state average—suggesting that while the climb is real, major academic challenges persist, particularly in math and science for grades 4 through 6. If the current improvement trend continues, Cradock could gradually narrow the gap, but it still has a long way to go before its results approach state norms.
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