Longfellow Arts and Technology Middle, Berkeley CA

Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Arts and Technology Middle

Longfellow Arts and Technology Middle sits on Derby Street in Berkeley's residential interior, a sixth-through-eighth-grade public school within Berkeley Unified. Its name announces an orientation toward arts and technology integration, though no program-level course data was available in the materials reviewed, so the depth and structure of those offerings are worth asking the school about directly.

On the California state assessments, Longfellow scores well above the statewide midpoint. In English language arts, proficiency rates across the three grades cluster in the upper fifties to mid-sixties, with sixth graders performing strongest and eighth graders somewhat lower. Math tells a similar story: sixth and seventh graders are in the low-to-mid sixties, eighth graders just below that. Science, tested only at eighth grade via the California Science Test, comes in roughly ten to fifteen points below the math and ELA results, which is a gap a parent may want to ask the school about. Social studies data is only available from a legacy assessment more than a decade old and is not useful for gauging current performance. Placed against districts in Alameda County, Longfellow's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of that set, a position that reflects genuinely solid academic attainment in a county that includes some high-performing suburban districts.

Only a single year of state testing data is present, so no trend line can be constructed. Whether Longfellow is moving up, holding steady, or drifting is not something the data here can answer.

The school is a mid-sized middle school for its grade band. Its student body is racially and ethnically diverse: Hispanic students make up the largest group, followed by white, Black, Asian, and multiracial students, with smaller numbers across other categories. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, meaning Longfellow serves a genuinely economically mixed population. Data on English learner rates and special education rates were not available in the materials provided.

Graduation rate does not apply here because Longfellow serves only middle grades.

Families buying into Berkeley to access this school enter one of the most expensive housing markets in California. Home values in the surrounding zip code are multiples of the state median and far above the national median. Rents run extremely high as well, with rent consuming a very large share of typical household income by conventional affordability measures. The gap between owning and renting costs is steep. Property owners also carry two voter-approved parcel taxes: the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program, renewed in 2024 as Measure H with a higher rate, which publicly reported sources say funds roughly one teacher in three and pays for music and the library program; and Measure E, passed in 2020, which directs revenue toward bringing teacher salaries toward the regional average.

The neighborhood itself is walkable and well-served by transit. Three BART stations serve Berkeley, AC Transit runs throughout the city, and the commercial corridors along Telegraph, Shattuck, College Avenue, and Fourth Street give the area a textured, urban everyday feel without being downtown-dense. Tilden Regional Park in the hills and Aquatic Park along the bayfront offer substantial open space. UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shape the city's intellectual and economic character in ways that permeate school culture and parent community alike.

At the district level, Berkeley Unified is in the middle of a meaningful shift in how it teaches reading at the elementary level, moving to a structured, phonics-grounded approach under a court-appointed monitor stemming from a 2021 lawsuit settlement. That change is primarily upstream of Longfellow, affecting incoming sixth graders over time, but it is relevant context for families with younger children still in elementary school.

Chronic absenteeism data was not available in the materials, and discipline data was likewise absent, both of which can matter at the middle school level. Those are reasonable questions to bring to the school directly.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 65% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 67% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 68% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 72% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 71% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 72% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Science

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 60% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 60% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

This schoolBerkeley Unified, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income85%42 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income80%45 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income71%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income80%44 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income81%43 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income75%29 pp gap