Summary:
ZIP code 94705 has three Sylvia Mendez, John Muir, and Emerson elementary schools, all serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Berkeley Unified; together they enroll 955 students. Their 2025–26 all-grade results are consistently above California’s in English language arts (ELA), math, and science, making the most important takeaway that all three schools perform above state results in every reported subject.
Emerson leads in ELA and math, with 77% proficient in ELA and 70% in math—8 and 5 percentage points above the averages of the other two schools. John Muir is the science standout at 72%, 16 points above the other schools’ average. Sylvia Mendez has the lowest all-grade results in all three subjects: 63% in ELA, 64% in math, and 52% in science. Even so, those results are respectively 14, 26, and 16 points above state results. Local differences are widest in science, where the schools’ results span 20 points, and narrowest in math, with a 6-point span.
From 2024–25 to 2025–26, the schools’ average science result rose 12 points, compared with a 3-point state increase, widening the schools’ average lead by 8 points; the average math result rose 2 points, while ELA was essentially unchanged. Grade-level results offer exceptions to the all-grade pattern: John Muir leads fifth-grade ELA at 85%, while Sylvia Mendez leads fifth-grade math at 67%. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 statewide percentiles are 82 for Sylvia Mendez, 90 for John Muir, and 91 for Emerson. Student-teacher ratios are close, from 20.9 at Muir to 21.7 at Emerson. In 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible shares ranged from 27% at Sylvia Mendez to 31% at Muir, with Emerson at 30%; these are context, not an explanation of score differences.
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