Coast Unified

Coast Unified has three schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: Cambria Grammar (K–5), Santa Lucia Middle (6–8), and Coast Union High (9–12). In 2025–26, the schools’ equal-weight average was higher in science than in ELA or math: 33% in science, 40% in ELA, and 23% in math, compared with state rates of 36%, 49%, and 38%. Results improved overall, but the most important area-wide concern is math: the average remained 15 percentage points below the state.

Cambria Grammar stands out in math and science, with 31% proficiency in math and 43% in science—the highest results among the three schools; its science result was 7 points above the state. Its fifth-grade math result was 48%, compared with 37% statewide, though third-grade math was 15% versus 47% statewide. Coast Union High had the strongest all-grades ELA result at 44%, ahead of Cambria at 38% and Santa Lucia at 37%, but its math result was lowest at 11%, 27 points below state. Santa Lucia’s all-grades results were 37% in ELA, 27% in math, and 28% in science; it tied Coast Union for the lowest science result.

From 2024–25 to 2025–26, results rose in all three subjects at Cambria and Coast Union, while Santa Lucia declined in all three, including a 12-point drop in science. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile rankings rose from 26 to 46 for Cambria and 24 to 37 for Coast Union, while Santa Lucia’s fell from 53 to 39. Coast Union pairs a 97% graduation rate with 27% chronic absenteeism; its absenteeism exceeded the state’s 18% rate, while Cambria’s was 7%. In 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 85% at Cambria, 89% at Coast Union, and 88% at Santa Lucia; student-teacher ratios ranged from 10.1 at Coast Union to 15.5 at Cambria. These figures offer context, but do not establish what explains school results.