Golden Valley Unified’s 3 public elementary schools run from the 54th to the 61st percentile among the 5,726 California elementary schools we score (spring 2026 tests).
Elementary · 3 schools
from 54th to 61st · among 5,726 California elementary schools we score · spring 2026 tests
Stone Creek Elementary: 61st percentile, Solid
Webster Elementary: 58th percentile, Solid
Sierra View Elementary: 54th percentile, Solid
0Needs Support
0Developing
3Solid
0Strong
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One dot per school.
Middle and high school pictures
Middle · 1 school
at 69th · among 2,529 California middle schools we score · spring 2026 tests
Ranchos Middle: 69th percentile, Solid
0Needs Support
0Developing
1Solid
0Strong
High · 1 school
at 58th · among 1,498 California high schools we score · spring 2025 tests
Liberty High: 58th percentile, Solid
0Needs Support
0Developing
1Solid
0Strong
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One dot per school. Each stage is placed only among California schools at its own level.
The average elementary school in Golden Valley Unified had 9 in 100 students chronically absent (missed 10% or more of school days) in 2025–26; the average California elementary school we score had 17 in 100. Both are averages of school rates, each school counted once.
Middle schools
Where does the middle school we score in Golden Valley Unified stand?
Ranchos Middle is at the 69th percentile.
That’s higher than 69 in 100 of the 2,529 California middle schools we score (spring 2026 tests). It’s the only public middle school we score in Golden Valley Unified.
Each percentile compares a school with California schools at its own level.
Where does the high school we score in Golden Valley Unified stand?
Liberty High is at the 58th percentile.
That’s higher than 58 in 100 of the 1,498 California high schools we score (spring 2025 tests). It’s the only public high school we score in Golden Valley Unified.
Each percentile compares a school with California schools at its own level.
Continuation schools, court and community schools and home and hospital programs enroll students differently from a regular school, so each is compared only with its own kind or not ranked.
Lincoln Community DayCommunity day school: students are placed here by probation, district or voluntary referral, including after an expulsion, so we don’t rank it
Valley Children's HospitalHome and hospital program: students are enrolled here by medical placement, not by address and not by lottery, so we don’t rank it
The district
Where does Golden Valley Unified’s money go, and what does it plan?
Golden Valley Unified spent $14,436 per student in the 2024–25 school year.
The typical California district spent $20,491. About 56 cents of every Golden Valley Unified dollar went to classroom instruction.
Spending by function
Day-to-day spending per student in average daily attendance, from the district’s annual financial report (SACS) to the California Department of Education. District-wide: it includes central administration and costs never assigned to one campus.
Share by function, 2024–25
Instruction56%
Instruction support11%
Student services11%
Administration8%
Buildings & maintenance13%
Other1%
Shares of the same spending total, by the report’s spending categories, rounded so they add up to 100. Names are simplified from the report’s own categories.
What the district plans
$49.3 million
planned in its 2026–27 plan for 22 funded actions in 5 goals. That’s 91% of its $54.3 million general fund budget. These are planned amounts; the district reports what it spent in a later plan.
The plan in short
Source: the district’s yearly spending plan (Local Control and Accountability Plan, or LCAP, 158 pages), as posted to the California School Dashboard.
Where the money goes
Three actions take 87% of the money. The plan itself puts 89% of it toward staff.
Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL $15.6 million
Basic Educational Services $14.3 million
Safe & Clean Environments $12.8 million
19 other actions
Reading, math and catch-up help
3 of the plan’s 22 funded actions name reading, math, catch-up help or English learners in their titles.
Actions whose titles name catch-up help or English learners
Catch-up help $300,000
English learners $75,000
Largest of these
Diagnostics for identifying learning gaps and provide appropriate interventions$150,000
Summer Extended Learning and Credit Recovery$150,000
LTEL Support$75,000
For high-need students (English learners, low-income students and foster youth), what changed and what its goals measure
For high-need students
It plans $3.0 million in extra services for English learners, low-income students and foster youth. For 2025–26, it planned $2.9 million and estimates it spent $2.9 million, within 1% of the plan.
$2.9 million spent (estimated)$2.9 million planned
What changed
The total is $14.1 million (40%) higher than in the 2025–26 plan. The biggest change in dollars is Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL, which went from $10.3 million to $15.6 million.
Largest increases
Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL+$5.3 million
Basic Educational Services+$4.6 million
Safe & Clean Environments+$3.0 million
What its goals measure
Read these state results for the district’s own schools as context for the goals they measure; results alone can’t show what the plan caused.
What its goals measure: state results, 2024–25 and 2025–26
Measure
2024–25
2025–26
Change
English, every tested grade: Proficient or Advanced in 2025–26, met or exceeded in 2024–25Goal 1
58%
58%
no change
Math, every tested grade: Proficient or Advanced in 2025–26, met or exceeded in 2024–25Goal 1
41%
42%
up 1 pt
Chronically absentCounted across all the district’s students, not averaged by schoolGoal 2
11 in 100
13 in 100
2 more in 100
Suspended at least onceGoal 3
3.6%
4.2%
up 0.6 pts
Goal 5 tracks named schools and Goal 4 tracks other measures, so they aren’t shown here.
Figures from CDE’s state test, chronic absence and suspension files. Test figures cover every grade the district tests (California tests grades 3–8 and 11), so they differ from a profile’s rated grades. We combined the district’s schools ourselves, weighted by students and leaving out charter schools. Chronically absent means a student missed 10% or more of school days.
The plan’s own titles and amounts
Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL · $15,591,723
Basic Educational Services · $14,328,636
Safe & Clean Environments · $12,808,123
The full plan5 goals, 29 measures and where the money goes
We calculate each action’s share of the plan by dividing its planned amount by the total of the plan’s funded actions ($49.3 million).
Where does the money go?
37% to Goal 1, All Students will reach high standards. Each box is one action, sized by its planned dollars and coloured by its change since last year’s plan. Tap a box to open its goal.
not compared: unconfirmed, or repeated across goals
Every goal, in the plan’s order
Goal 1All Students will reach high standards$18.3 million37% of action budgets
7 funded actions · 2025–26 plan: $13.0 million (+$5.3 million) · p. 28 ↗
Largest funded actions
Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL$15.6 millionaction 1.1 · p. 118 ↗
Additional Supports for unduplicated students$1.1 millionaction 1.6 · p. 118 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need services
Acceleration opportunities for court placed, SED, and Foster youth to get back on track$0.9 millionaction 1.4 · p. 118 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need services
Academic & Social Emotional Support$0.3 millionaction 1.3 · p. 118 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need services
Diagnostics for identifying learning gaps and provide appropriate interventions$0.2 millionaction 1.5 · p. 118 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need services
2 more funded actions in this goal
Summer Extended Learning and Credit Recovery · action 1.7 · p. 119 ↗$0.2 million
Extended Learning for Students · action 1.2 · p. 118 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need servicesunder $0.1 million
Changes from last year’s plan, same title
Meaningful engagement in school and learning, ensuring learning for ALL+$5.3 million$10.3 million → $15.6 million · p. 118 ↗
Acceleration opportunities for court placed, SED, and Foster youth to get back on track+$27,000$847,000 → $874,000 · p. 118 ↗
Additional Supports for unduplicated students−$25,865$1.2 million → $1.1 million · p. 118 ↗
Every other line in this goal, against last year’s plan
Academic & Social Emotional Support · $330,000 → $336,289 · p. 118 ↗+$6,289
Diagnostics for identifying learning gaps and provide appropriate interventions · $149,950 → $150,000 · p. 118 ↗+$50
Summer Extended Learning and Credit Recovery · $150,000 → $150,000 · p. 119 ↗unchanged
Extended Learning for Students · $30,000 → $35,000 · p. 118 ↗+$5,000
How the plan measures it · 14 measures · 3 quoted
Smarter Balanced Math Distance from Standardp. 29 ↗
Goal 3All Students will be taught by highly qualified professionals in a clean, caring and secure environment$12.9 million26% of action budgets
2 funded actions · 2025–26 plan: $9.9 million (+$3.0 million) · p. 68 ↗
Largest funded actions
Safe & Clean Environments$12.8 millionaction 3.1 · p. 120 ↗
Effective teaching for our EL, Foster Youth, and SED students$0.1 millionaction 3.2 · p. 120 ↗ · marked as contributing to high-need services · of which $75,000 is state funding counted toward those services
Changes from last year’s plan, same title
Safe & Clean Environments+$3.0 million$9.8 million → $12.8 million · p. 120 ↗
Every other line in this goal, against last year’s plan
Effective teaching for our EL, Foster Youth, and SED students · $89,000 → $89,000 · p. 120 ↗unchanged
Goal 4GVUSD staff will find innovative ways to involve parents and community members in preparing our students for…$3.3 million7% of action budgets
“GVUSD staff will find innovative ways to involve parents and community members in preparing our students for college and careers” p. 75 ↗
1 funded action · 2025–26 plan: $2.0 million (+$1.3 million)
Largest funded actions
Effective communication with parents and community$3.3 millionaction 4.1 · p. 120 ↗
Changes from last year’s plan, same title
Effective communication with parents and community+$1.3 million$2.0 million → $3.3 million · p. 120 ↗
How the plan measures it · 2 measures
None of these has an all-students line we can quote; the plan’s table lists them from p. 75 ↗.
Goal 5 · Equity Multiplier Focus GoalIncrease the graduation rate at Educational Options (alternative education) school sites by 3% over the next three years$209,735under 1% of action budgets
All amounts are planned. We read them from the PDF and added up each goal’s actions ourselves. Page links open the plan at that page.
Who goes to the district’s schools
Who attends
Student mix
2024–25 · October enrollment count, 2,997 students
1Hispanic or Latino50%
2White37%
3Asian6%
4Black or African American2%
5Two or more races2%
6American Indian or Alaska Native<1%
7Filipino<1%
8Not reported<1%
9Pacific Islander<1%
Shares use the district's own October enrollment counts from the CDE, including its charter schools.
Free or reduced-price meals
37%
Across California, 63% of students qualify.
2024–25 · 1,117 of 2,997 students qualify, summed from the CDE’s meal counts for every school it lists under the district, charters included. It comes from a different CDE file than the student mix, so the two totals differ.
The district’s state records
Is the state giving the district extra help?
The state is giving Golden Valley Unified extra help in 2026. A student group had the Dashboard’s lowest results (red) on two or more measures three years in a row.
It also qualified the year before.
Which students, on which measures
Long-term English learners
math and English learner progress
How English learners moved up on the state’s English test
From spring 2025 to spring 2026, 44% of the district’s English learners moved up at least one level on the state’s English test (ELPAC), or stayed at the top (67 of 153 students). California: 47%. It counts students moving up the test’s levels, so a student can count here before becoming fluent.
This list covers the district’s own schools; each charter school’s page shows its record. Federal designation under the Every Student Succeeds Act, 2025–26.
Which public schools in Golden Valley Unified rank highest?
Elementary: Stone Creek Elementary, 61st percentile (Solid). Middle: Ranchos Middle, 69th percentile (Solid). High: Liberty High, 58th percentile (Solid). Each percentile is among the California schools at the same level we score. A rank doesn’t decide fit or whether a child can enroll.
Does living in the Golden Valley Unified district decide which school my child attends?
Not by itself. Attendance boundaries, programs, transfers and space all matter. Confirm the school for your address, grade and program with the district.
More questions (5)
Are the public schools in Golden Valley Unified good?
Golden Valley Unified’s 3 public elementary schools run from the 54th to the 61st percentile among the 5,726 California elementary schools we score (spring 2026 tests). By band: 3 Solid. Golden Valley Unified has one public middle school we score, Ranchos Middle, at the 69th percentile among the 2,529 California middle schools we score (spring 2026 tests). By band: 1 Solid. Golden Valley Unified has one public high school we score, Liberty High, at the 58th percentile among the 1,498 California high schools we score (spring 2025 tests). By band: 1 Solid. A percentile compares a school with California public schools at the same level that we score. How we score schools.
How does chronic absence in Golden Valley Unified compare with California?
The average elementary school in Golden Valley Unified had 9 in 100 students chronically absent (missed 10% or more of school days) in 2025–26; the average California elementary school we score had 17 in 100. Both are averages of school rates, each school counted once. These are averages of school rates: each school counts once, whatever its size.
How much does Golden Valley Unified spend per student?
Golden Valley Unified spent $14,436 per student in the 2024–25 school year. The typical California district spent $20,491. About 56 cents of every Golden Valley Unified dollar went to classroom instruction. Day-to-day spending per student in average daily attendance, from its annual financial report to the California Department of Education. The district’s spending, by function.
What is in Golden Valley Unified’s 2026–27 spending plan?
The district’s 2026–27 spending plan puts $49.3 million into 22 funded actions in 5 goals, 91% of its $54.3 million general fund budget. Its largest goal holds $18.3 million, 37% of the action budgets. The 2026–27 plan, goal by goal.
Where do these results come from?
California’s state tests (CAASPP): spring 2026 for elementary and middle schools, spring 2025 for high schools, and chronic-absence rates for 2025–26, published by the California Department of Education. Percentiles, bands and Scope Scores are SchoolScope’s calculations. How we score schools.
Sources and methodology
This page lists the public schools governed and funded by Golden Valley Unified, with the district’s spending and state accountability records.
Data source: California Department of Education · CAASPP 2025–26 elementary and middle school; 2024–25 high school
Percentiles, bands and Scope Scores are SchoolScope’s own calculations from these state files.