Highland Community, Oakland CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Highland Community

Highland Community is a public elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Oakland, California. The school sits in a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic (around three-quarters of enrollment) and Black (roughly a fifth), with virtually all students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is small relative to the upper elementary grades.

State assessment results from the most recent testing show very low proficiency across all tested subjects and grades. In English language arts, proficiency ranges from around six percent in third grade to roughly thirteen percent in fifth grade. Mathematics proficiency is even lower, hovering between six and eight percent across grades three through five. Science proficiency, tested in fifth grade only, sits around six percent. These results place the school in the bottom quartile of proficiency among Alameda County school districts.

A parent considering Highland Community should understand that the school is navigating substantial academic challenges. The proficiency rates are far below what most families would expect, and the gap is large enough that a parent may want to look into this further with the school directly. What drives these results—whether capacity constraints, student mobility, recent staffing changes, broader system pressures within Oakland Unified, or other factors—is not evident from enrollment and program data alone. The school's student population is almost entirely economically disadvantaged, which tends to correlate with lower test performance across California, but that context does not explain the magnitude of the gap between Highland Community and other high-poverty schools in the county.

The school operates within Oakland Unified, a large urban district serving the city. Oakland itself is a patchwork of distinct neighborhoods—vertical downtown corridors, classic residential grids of Craftsman homes and bungalows, and hillside areas—with strong arts and cultural identity and notable diversity. The neighborhood anchors include walkable commercial nodes and institutions like Lake Merritt, downtown civic spaces, and extensive BART and bus transit. No recent major district-level changes were found to report here; the focus for families choosing Highland Community should rest on the school itself and what educational pathway it offers.

The larger Oakland housing market shows median home values in a mid-range for the Bay Area, though recent trends point downward, and rental costs remain high relative to income. This context matters if family housing stability or commute time factors into the choice of school.

For families weighing Highland Community, the central question is whether the school has a credible plan or narrative for improving academic outcomes, and whether parents feel confident in the leadership and staff executing that plan. The data available here does not answer that question; a direct conversation with the school leadership and teaching staff would be essential.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 37%

School 7% · District 36% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 49 pts below county median

Grade 48%

School 8% · District 33% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 28% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 37%

School 7% · District 31% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 34% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 36% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 25% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

This schoolOakland 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.