Union Hill Elementary: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Union Hill posts 42% meeting the standard and 15.8% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 37 | 16% | 42% | -22.4 | 6.5% | 3.7% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Union Hill Elementary scores 37 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 34th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “42% proficient” and call it done. Union Hill deserves a closer read. The school sits in Grass Valley, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 6.5% chronic absenteeism — versus 17.9% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
As a charter, Union Hill enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 53rd to the 34th percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 42% meet the standard today, versus 47% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 59% | 34% | 44% | 42% | 47% |
| Grade 4 | 44% | 49% | 41% | 39% | 52% |
| Grade 5 | 55% | 52% | 47% | 56% | 34% |
| Grade 6 | 57% | 41% | 42% | 43% | 40% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 45% | 51% | 48% | 61% | 52% |
| Grade 4 | 38% | 38% | 42% | 39% | 45% |
| Grade 5 | 39% | 26% | 27% | 35% | 20% |
| Grade 6 | 35% | 29% | 23% | 26% | 35% |
The story this school is actually telling
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The honest read: the share exceeding rises 5.2pp across grades; the floor slips 12.8pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 5 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Union Hill Elementary in Grass Valley, 31.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 32.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Union Hill Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 1.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (28.2% Math proficient); White students (45.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 30.5 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 156 students tested.
5 of 12 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.
Low-income student ELA proficiency falls by 10.5pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: -10.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 4–6 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of TK/K students (6.1% vs 3.0%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
What gets spent here
$468 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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 24% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Union Hill Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Union Hill Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Union Hill Elementary rank in California?
Is Union Hill Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Union Hill Elementary?
How does Union Hill Elementary compare to other schools in Grass Valley?
How does Union Hill Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 73 | 12% | 34% | 26% | 27% | 47% | +3 |
| Grade 4 | 73 | 18% | 34% | 22% | 26% | 52% | +7 |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 18% | 16% | 39% | 28% | 34% | −14 |
| Grade 6 | 78 | 18% | 22% | 29% | 31% | 40% | −7 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 73 | 22% | 30% | 21% | 27% | 52% | +6 |
| Grade 4 | 73 | 14% | 32% | 30% | 25% | 45% | +4 |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 11% | 9% | 40% | 40% | 20% | −15 |
| Grade 6 | 78 | 17% | 18% | 35% | 31% | 35% | −0 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 79 | 6% | 18% | 65% | 11% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 156 | 31.4% | −1 | −7 |
| White | 231 | 45.5% | −2 | −16 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 33 | 30.3% | +0 | −9 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Hill Elementary ← | — | 37 | 15.8% | 41.6% | −22.4 | 3.7% |
| Grass Valley Charter | 1.4 mi | 40 | 24.5% | 44.3% | −25.4 | 1.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 43 | 53 | #2610 | 22.7% | 46.6% | 5.8% | 5.9% | -4.9pp |
| 2022 | 40 | 60 | #2297 | 14.1% | 41.7% | 35.5% | 3.2% | -3.5pp |
| 2023 | 35 | 39 | #3483 | 17.7% | 41.5% | 30.8% | 4.0% | -8.8pp |
| 2024 | 51 | 69 | #1769 | 20.7% | 45.2% | 17.9% | 5.4% | -6.4pp |
| 2025 | 37 | 34 | #3789 | 15.8% | 41.6% | 6.5% | 3.7% | -22.4pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 6.0% | 4.9% | -1.1pp |
| Male | 5.4% | 6.3% | +0.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 10.1% | 7.7% | -2.4pp |
| Two or More Races | 3.6% | 14.6% | +11.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 7.2% | 8.8% | +1.6pp |
| English Learners | 7.1% | 7.7% | +0.6pp |
| Homeless | 28.6% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.7% | 7.2% | -2.5pp |
| All Students | 5.7% | 5.7% | +0.0pp |
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