Santa Clara Unified

Santa Clara Unified includes 30 schools: 19 elementary, four middle, six high and one alternative school. In 2025–26, district proficiency rates were 61% in English language arts (ELA), 50% in math and 51% in science, compared with state rates of 49%, 38% and 36%. Those district figures offer a broad overview, but school results vary sharply: the highest-to-lowest school ranges were 78 points in ELA, 88 in math and 69 in science. The most important finding for families is that district averages conceal major differences among individual schools.

Mission Early College High leads in ELA at 90%, while Millikin Elementary leads in math at 88% and science at 79%. Those rates are about 41, 50 and 43 percentage points above state results, respectively. Other strong performers include Washington Open Elementary (79% ELA, 78% math, 73% science) and Laurelwood Elementary (77%, 76% and 78%); Marian A. Peterson Middle leads middle schools in all three subjects. At the low end, New Valley Continuation High has 12% ELA, 0% math and 10% science. Scott Lane Elementary has the lowest elementary rates: 28% ELA, 25% math and 20% science.

Average school rates rose between 2024–25 and 2025–26 by less than a point in ELA, 2 points in math and 4 points in science, but individual changes differed: Mission gained 27 points in math, while Wilson Alternative fell 10 points in ELA. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile ranking rose from 94th to 98th for Mission and from 67th to 81st for Abram Agnew Elementary, while Scott Lane declined from 28th to 21st. As context, all schools report free/reduced lunch eligibility for 2024–25: Millikin was 4% and Washington Open 8%, while Scott Lane was 55% and Bowers Elementary was 60%; these figures do not explain results. School sizes and student-teacher ratios also do not sort neatly with achievement: Mission has 183 students and a ratio of 23, while New Valley has 151 students and a ratio of 10.5.