Summary:
ZIP code 95825 has four San Juan Unified schools: three K–5 elementary schools and one grades 9–12 high school. In 2025–26, the elementary schools averaged 16% proficient in English language arts (ELA), 10% in math and 11% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%. Encina High scored 14% in ELA, 2% in math and 5% in science. The central finding is that every school’s results were well below the same-year state figures in all three subjects.
The elementary schools stand out in different subjects: Cottage Elementary led ELA at 19%, about 4 percentage points above the average for Greer Elementary and Howe Avenue Elementary. Greer led math at 14%, 5 points above the average of the other two schools, and science at 16%, 8 points above their average. Howe had the lowest elementary results in math (7%) and science (5%): 4 and 9 points below the average of Cottage and Greer, respectively. No elementary school led in all three subjects.
Scores rose on average across the four schools from 2024–25 to 2025–26: ELA gained 2 percentage points, math 1 and science 2. However, the average gap with the state narrowed in ELA but widened in math and science. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings also fell for all four schools between 2023–24 and 2025–26: Encina moved from the 13th to the 9th percentile, Greer from the 7th to the 3rd, Howe from the 2nd to the 1st and Cottage from the 4th to the 2nd. Chronic absenteeism was high, averaging 33% at the elementary schools versus 18% statewide; Encina’s rate was 39%. School size, staffing ratios and the reported free/reduced lunch eligible shares do not point to one simple pattern: in 2024–25, those shares were 81% at Greer, 84% at Howe and 76% at Cottage, while student–teacher ratios were 26.2, 23.9 and 26.4, respectively.
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