Summary
Highland Elementary is a 377-student K–6 school in Richmond, in the West Contra Costa Unified area. In 2025–26, 11% of students were proficient in English language arts (ELA), 15% in math and 9% in science. The most important finding is that results were low across all three subjects: Highland was below state rates by 38 points in ELA, 23 in math and 27 in science.
Math is the school’s strongest subject relative to nearby schools, while ELA is its clearest weakness. Among six nearby K–6 schools, Highland ranked second in math, with 15% proficiency—2 points above their average—and fifth-grade math was the highest among those peers at 15%. ELA was lowest in the group: 11%, compared with a peer average of 20%; fifth- and sixth-grade ELA were also below every peer. Science proficiency was 9%, 5 points below the peer average. Even in math, Highland remained below the district by 13 points and the state by 23; its ELA and science rates were also below district rates by 22 and 15 points.
Results have weakened against the state since 2022–23: Highland’s ELA rate fell 6 points, math fell 1 point and science fell 4 points, while the state gaps widened by 9, 5 and 9 points, respectively. SchoolDigger placed the school at the 3rd percentile statewide in 2025–26, with 0 stars and a rank of 5,646 out of 5,804; it was at the 59th percentile in 2014–15. Other context includes a student-teacher ratio of 20.9 in 2024–25, tied for the lowest among the six peers, and 71% free/reduced lunch eligible that year. Chronic absenteeism reached 44% in 2025–26, up 10 points from the prior year and 26 points above the state. SchoolDigger’s historical subgroup rankings showed a stronger result for English Language Learner Students: 42nd percentile in 2023–24, versus 10th overall. For African American Students, the ranking fell from the 57th percentile in 2017–18 to the 2nd percentile in 2021–22, while the overall ranking moved from the 39th to the 11th percentile.
Thank you for your feedback!