Westwood Unified

Westwood Unified has two listed schools: Fletcher Walker Elementary, serving kindergarten through grade 8, and Westwood High, serving grades 9–12, with no separate middle school. The latest results show a broad concern: both schools’ all-grade English language arts (ELA) proficiency was more than 25 percentage points below the state, and Westwood High’s math result was 38 points below. Chronic absenteeism was also above the state rate at both schools: 43% at Fletcher Walker and 33% at Westwood High, compared with 18% statewide. The most important finding is that both schools have sizable achievement gaps with the state, especially in ELA and in Westwood High’s math results.

In the 2025–2026 all-grade results, Fletcher Walker was ahead of Westwood High in both ELA and math, though the schools serve different grade spans. Fletcher Walker had 24% proficiency in ELA versus 21% at Westwood High, a 3-point lead; in math, it had 25% versus 0%, a 25-point lead. Both schools were below state results in ELA: 24% versus 49% at Fletcher Walker, and 21% versus 49% at Westwood High. Fletcher Walker’s 4th-grade math result stands out as an exception to the wider pattern: 60% proficient, about 18 points above the state’s 42%. At Westwood High, 11th-grade ELA was 21% versus 57% statewide, a 36-point gap; 11th-grade math was 0% versus 32%. Because the schools serve different grades, all-grade comparisons are not direct like-for-like measures.

Recent trends differ by school and subject. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Fletcher Walker’s ELA proficiency fell by 11 points, while its math rose by 4; Westwood High’s ELA rose by 3 points, but its math fell by 18, from 18% to 0%. SchoolDigger rankings also show contrasting histories: Fletcher Walker rose from the 19th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 45th in 2024–2025, while Westwood High fell from the 72nd percentile in 2022–2023 to the 14th in 2025–2026. For context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 77% at Fletcher Walker and 72% at Westwood High; student–teacher ratios were 21.1 and 10.8, respectively. These are observations, not explanations for the different results.