Summary:
Westwood, California, is served by the Westwood Unified school district, which consists of two small public schools—Fletcher Walker Elementary (grades K-8) and Westwood High (grades 9-12)—that share a campus and serve a community with significant economic needs.
Both schools face considerable academic challenges, consistently performing below state averages in English, math, and especially science. Fletcher Walker Elementary shows volatile year-to-year ratings and wide disparities between grade levels, with student performance often declining in later grades. Westwood High is in a more severe crisis, with an extremely low graduation rate of 46.2% and a dropout rate over six times the state average, despite having a very low student-teacher ratio and higher per-student spending than the elementary school.
Chronic absenteeism is high at both schools, and the entire district ranks in the bottom quarter statewide. The data suggests that while both schools serve similar high-poverty student populations, the challenges at the high school level are particularly acute and are not being resolved by its current resources, indicating a need for focused intervention and support systems for students transitioning to and through high school.
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