Summary:
West Contra Costa Unified has eight high schools, all serving grades 9–12, with a wide range of results across the area. In 2025–26, the schools’ average proficiency was 41% in ELA, 28% in math, and 24% in science, compared with California averages of 49%, 38%, and 36%. The most important finding is that those averages conceal large differences between schools: the top-to-bottom spread was 83 points in ELA, 50 in math, and 59 in science.
Middle College High led the group in every subject, with 84% proficiency in ELA, 56% in math, and 59% in science—13, 17, and 15 points above the next-highest schools, respectively. Its ELA result was 35 points above the state, and it also had a 99% graduation rate and 2% chronic absenteeism, compared with 88% and 18% statewide. At the other end, Greenwood Academy had the lowest ELA and science results, at 1% and 0%; Richmond High had the lowest math result, at 5%. Greenwood’s chronic absenteeism was 82%, while John F. Kennedy High had a 76% graduation rate and 15% dropout rate.
Recent group averages moved in different directions: ELA fell 4 points from 2024–25 to 2025–26, math rose 3 points, and science rose 2 points among the seven schools with scores for both years. Math moved closer to the state average, while the ELA and science gaps widened. SchoolDigger rated Middle College in the 93rd percentile with five stars and Greenwood in the 6th percentile with zero stars. School size and the reported income measure do not form a simple pattern: Middle College has 294 students and a 30.6 student-teacher ratio, while Greenwood has 200 students and a ratio of 17.8; their free/reduced lunch eligible (FRL) figures for sy 2024–2025 were 65% and 94%. The measure ranged from 39% at El Cerrito High to 97% at Richmond; these figures are context, not explanations for results. Some grade 12 science results are suppressed, and outcomes at the schools with 200 and 294 students may be less stable.
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