Summary:
In Santa Clara Unified, six high schools serve 10 to 1,663 students: five cover grades 9–12, while Santa Clara Community Day serves grades 6–12. Across the five schools with reported 2025–2026 scores, average proficiency was 62% in English language arts (ELA), 39% in math, and 47% in science—12, 1, and 11 percentage points above state rates, respectively. The most important finding is the sharp divide between Mission Early College High and New Valley Continuation High.
Mission Early College leads in all three subjects, at 90% in ELA, 76% in math, and 69% in science; its results are 41, 37, and 33 percentage points above the state. It also reports a 100% graduation rate and 9% chronic absenteeism. At the other end, New Valley scores 12% in ELA, 0% in math, and 10% in science—78, 76, and 60 points below Mission. Its graduation rate is 68%, and chronic absenteeism is 78%. Among the larger comprehensive schools, Adrian Wilcox High scores higher than Santa Clara High in ELA, math, and science by 5, 4, and 5 points.
Group averages improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 by 2 points in ELA, 4 in math, and 6 in science, gaining ground on state averages in each subject. Individual results vary: math rose 27 points at Mission, but fell 3 points at Santa Clara and 7 at Kathleen MacDonald High. SchoolDigger ranks Mission #43 of 2,137 schools, in the 98th percentile with five stars; New Valley ranks #1,796, in the 16th percentile with one star. In 2024–2025, both Mission and MacDonald had about one-third of students eligible for free/reduced lunch (31% and 32%), though their scores differed substantially. Santa Clara Community Day's current subject scores are suppressed, so they are not included in achievement comparisons.
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