Summary:
The 31 listed schools in Santa Barbara, California, include 20 elementary, three middle, six high and two alternative schools, spanning several districts and grade levels; most have 2025–26 proficiency results, while a few charter schools have results only for 2024–25. The clearest takeaway for parents is that academic outcomes vary sharply among schools, especially at the elementary level.
Cold Spring Elementary leads elementary schools with 100% proficiency in ELA, 99% in math and 97% in science; it exceeds Montecito Union, the next-highest school, by 5, 4 and 8 percentage points, respectively. At the other end, McKinley Elementary has the lowest elementary ELA and math results, at 19% and 15%, while Cleveland Elementary has the lowest science result, 4%. The elementary range between highest and lowest is 81 points in ELA, 84 in math and 93 in science. Among middle schools, La Colina Junior High leads with 71% ELA, 68% math and 52% science. Of four comparable Santa Barbara Unified high schools, San Marcos Senior High leads each subject, while La Cuesta Continuation High has the lowest results. SchoolDigger ranked Cold Spring 1st and Montecito Union 3rd among 5,804 California schools.
Recent changes differ by grade span: across 18 elementary schools with two years of results, average school-level change was down 1 point in ELA, unchanged in math and up 1 point in science, compared with statewide gains of about 0, 1 and 3 points. The three middle schools averaged gains of 3 points in each subject, and the four comparable high schools gained an average of 11 points in ELA, 6 in math and 5 in science. Individual results still diverged: Santa Barbara Senior High improved 6 points in ELA, 7 in math and 8 in science, while San Marcos declined 2, 4 and 2 points. For context, the reported measure is free/reduced lunch eligible for 2024–25: 6% at Cold Spring and 5% at Montecito, compared with 41% at Washington Elementary, which exceeded state proficiency in all three subjects. These comparisons are school-level, and schools serve different grades.
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