Summary:
Six middle schools in West Contra Costa Unified serve students in a diverse district area: two cover grades 6–8 and four cover grades 7–8. In 2025–26, their average proficiency was 30% in English language arts (ELA), 25% in math and 21% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%, respectively. The most important finding is the wide divide between schools: the top-to-bottom spread was 39 percentage points in ELA, 33 in math and 38 in science.
Hercules Middle stands out in ELA and science, with 51% and 41% proficient; those results were 2 and 5 percentage points above the state. Fred T. Korematsu Middle leads in math at 41%, 2 points above the state, and is second in ELA and science. At the lower end, Lovonya DeJean Middle has the lowest ELA result at 12% and science at 3%, while Helms Middle has the lowest math result at 7%. Same-grade results also show Hercules leading 8th-grade math, 8 points above the state, and Korematsu leading 7th-grade math, 11 points above.
Average results improved from 2024–25 to 2025–26: math rose 5 percentage points, science 3 and ELA 1. Pinole Middle made particularly notable gains—10 points in both math and science—though its results remain below state levels. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings place Hercules at the 65th percentile and Korematsu at the 60th, while Helms and DeJean are both at the 2nd; Pinole rose from the 22nd to the 39th percentile over three years. For context, all six reported the free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–25, ranging from 39% at Korematsu to 82% at Helms and DeJean; these figures describe the schools’ reported populations, not the cause of score differences.
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