The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Elementary
Highland Elementary sits on Highlander Drive in Riverside, California, serving kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school in the Riverside Unified School District. The school enrolls a mid-sized population for its grade band, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, a substantial Black student population, and smaller shares of white, Asian, and multiracial students. More than three in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that economic need is widespread across the school community. Data on English learner enrollment and special education participation were not available in the records reviewed.
The clearest thing a parent should know about Highland Elementary is where its test scores stand. California's CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessments in math and English language arts are reported by grade, and across every tested grade, proficiency rates are low. In math, results across third through sixth grade are all well below where most California schools land, with no tested grade reaching even a fifth of students at the proficient level. ELA results are modestly higher in the upper grades but still low in the lower grades. Science results at fifth grade, measured by the state's CAST assessment, are similarly low. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Riverside County. That is a gap worth taking seriously, and a parent would be right to ask the school directly what supports are in place and what the trajectory looks like year to year. Because only one year of data was available, trend information could not be computed.
Riverside Unified has publicly reported a district-wide instructional shift built around teacher coaching, with coaches now working across roughly a third of the district's educators. The approach is designed to catch struggling students earlier and remove learning barriers through four core concepts embedded in classroom instruction. Early reported gains in both English and math have been cited, though the program is federally funded and scheduled to end in 2028. How deeply that coaching effort has reached Highland specifically is not something the available data can answer, but it is the kind of question worth raising with the school.
On the district side, Riverside Unified has maintained its ethnic studies graduation requirement for high school, keeping in place a policy the board adopted before California's statewide mandate. A late 2025 proposal to eliminate the requirement in response to a state budget shortfall was voted down after community opposition, according to the Raincross Gazette and The IE Voice. That does not affect elementary families directly today, but it shapes the course pathway students will encounter later in the district.
Voter-approved Measure O bond funds have been financing facilities upgrades and new construction, including a STEM Education Center. A June 2026 California State Auditor report found that the district delivered fewer projects than originally planned because of rising costs and shifting priorities, and flagged inconsistent reporting on how bond allocations were tracked. Families who care about capital investment transparency may want to follow that reporting closely.
The housing market in the zip code surrounding Highland Elementary reflects a Riverside market that runs well below the California median but well above national norms, with recent values showing a slight year-over-year dip. Rents in the area have been essentially flat over the same period. The rent-to-income ratio in the area indicates that housing costs claim a meaningful share of a typical household's income, and monthly mortgage costs at current rates present a real affordability constraint for buyers entering at today's prices.
No information was available from the locale research on Riverside's specific neighborhood character around this school, major employers, or walkability. Program offerings specific to Highland Elementary were also not available in the data reviewed, so questions about enrichment, arts, or intervention programs are best directed to the school directly.
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