Gifford C. Cole Middle: The state doesn't publish enough data to score this school fairly.
Gifford C. Cole is a middle school in Lancaster. The state doesn't publish enough data to score it fairly — so we won't. Here's what we can show.
No Scope Score available
California doesn't publicly report per-grade test results when fewer than 11 students are tested in a grade — a privacy protection for small schools. We can't compute a Scope Score without that data.
With little published data, a visit does the heavy lifting: ask about class sizes, teacher tenure, and where last year's students went next.
- Ask about typical class sizes and the student-teacher ratio.
- Ask how long teachers have stayed at the school.
- Ask where recent graduates or transfers went next.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom, and watch how a lesson actually runs.
How every group of students does here
At Gifford C. Cole Middle in Lancaster, 23.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 21.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Gifford C. Cole Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (7.7% Math proficient); Hispanic students (26.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 21.6 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 549 students tested.
6 of 17 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$1,170 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
On the state's science test (CAST), 9% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 32
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction