Original Research by School Decision on Castlemont High
Castlemont High sits in Oakland's Glenview neighborhood, a residential area anchored by local commerce around Park and MacArthur Boulevard. The school serves grades 9 through 12 and enrolls a school-sized population within the Oakland Unified district. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with a substantial share of students also identifying as Asian or multiracial. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that reflects both the neighborhood and the broader Oakland context. The neighborhood itself is solidly working-class: median household income in the area is stable, but home prices have declined slightly from the prior year, and rent as a share of household income sits above typical benchmarks, indicating housing cost pressure.
On state standardized assessments in the 2024-25 school year, Castlemont's results show very low proficiency. In English language arts, proficiency was in the single digits; in mathematics, proficiency was similarly low; and in science, proficiency was extremely low, below one percent. These figures represent actual student performance measured against California's state standards. A parent may want to look into what supports the school is putting in place, what the school identifies as barriers to proficiency, and whether the school has a plan to move these numbers.
The school does not report a graduation rate in the available data; state reporting typically focuses on four-year cohort graduation rates for high schools, and those figures are not present here. This gap may reflect data availability or timing.
No information about English learner enrollment, special education enrollment, discipline, attendance, or course offerings was available in the data provided. Oakland is home to a notable diversity of neighborhoods and a robust transit system, and Glenview's park and commercial strips provide neighborhood anchors, but details about school-level programs, tutoring, counseling, or academic pathway options (such as AP, career pathways, or dual-credit courses) were not in the data for this school. A parent exploring Castlemont would benefit from visiting the school or its website directly to understand what interventions, supports, and courses it offers, and what the school's own accountability and improvement work looks like.
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