Summary:
The 13 schools in Barstow Unified include seven elementary, three middle, and three high schools, with 6,118 students total; enrollment ranges from 9 at BUSD School of Opportunity to 1,558 at Barstow High. The reported-school averages are below state results in every subject: 18% in English language arts (ELA) versus 49% statewide, 14% in math versus 38%, and 14% in science versus 36%. The average gaps are 31, 24, and 22 points, respectively, making the most important takeaway that students’ results vary widely by school, while the overall results remain well below state averages.
Barstow High leads the all-grades results, with 43% in ELA, 28% in math, and 30% in science; its ELA score is 8 points above the next-highest school, Skyline North Elementary, and its science score is 6 points above Barstow STEM Academy. Skyline North leads elementary schools in ELA and math, at 35% and 27%. STEM stands out among middle schools too: its 8th-grade math result of 22% is 20 points above Barstow Junior High. At the bottom among schools with reported results, Central High (Continuation) has 3% in ELA and 0% in math—47 and 38 points below state results.
Results moved in different directions between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026: ELA rose 13 points at Skyline North and 6 at Barstow High, while math rose 12 points at Barstow High but fell 9 at Cameron Elementary and 8 at Central High. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking rose from 29 to 50 for Barstow High but fell from 40 to 21 for STEM. Other measures also show contrasting experiences: Barstow High’s graduation rate was 92%, above the state’s 88%, yet 54% of its students were chronically absent; Central High’s graduation rate was 46% and chronic absenteeism was 84%. In 2024–2025, the free/reduced lunch eligible measure was 74% at Skyline North and 90% at Cameron, alongside different test results; this is context, not an explanation for the difference. Grade spans differ and some test results are suppressed, so not every comparison is like-for-like.
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