La Jolla public schools again boast strong ratings on California Dashboard

La Jolla public schools continue to perform above many of their counterparts in annual ratings released this month in the California School Dashboard.

The dashboard, launched in 2017, is the state’s primary way to measure schools’ performance in meeting the needs of all students. Individual schools, including charter schools, and school districts all get their own ratings in various categories.

Results for the San Diego Unified School District — whose La Jolla Cluster includes Bird Rock, La Jolla and Torrey Pines Elementary schools, Muirlands Middle School and La Jolla High School — were mostly positive.

Statewide ratings improved as well, which California education officials chalked up to efforts such as expanding community schools, universal meals and literacy coaching.

The ratings are assigned colors, with blue indicating the highest performance, followed by green, yellow and orange, with red the lowest. The ratings factor in whether and how the performance of the current year changed from the previous year.

The dashboard rates schools and districts for accountability determinations in the following areas:

• English language arts: Reflecting how far from the standard that students scored on average on the Smarter Balanced assessment or California Alternate Assessments

• Math: How far from the standard that students scored on average on those same standardized tests

• English-learner progress: The percentage of students learning English as a second language who either improved or maintained high performance relative to the previous year on the state’s language proficiency test

• Suspension rate: The percentage of students suspended for a combined total of at least one full day during the school year

• Chronic absenteeism rate (elementary and middle schools only): The percentage of students who were absent for 10% or more of the instructional days they were enrolled to attend

• College and career readiness (high schools only): The number of students deemed prepared based on having met at least one of several metrics, such as taking Advanced Placement courses, passing AP or International Baccalaureate exams, completing a career technical education pathway, a pre-apprenticeship or a government job program, and passing college credit courses or state standardized tests in English and math

• Graduation rate (high schools only): Including four- and five-year graduations

Science scores, or the average number of points for continuously enrolled students who took the California Science Test or California Alternate Assessment for Science, were rated for informational purposes but not for accountability determinations.

Here’s how the La Jolla Cluster schools fared in this year’s ratings, along with changes from last year:

Bird Rock Elementary

• English language arts: Blue. 72.8 points above standard; +21.2

• Math: Blue. 80.1 points above standard; +21.2

• Suspension rate: Blue. 0% suspended at least one day; no change

• Chronic absenteeism rate: Orange. 9.9% chronically absent; +1.4%

• English-learner progress: No rating (fewer than 11 students)

• Science: Blue. 74.2 points; +9

La Jolla Elementary

• English language arts: Blue. 101 points above standard; +5.3

• Math: Blue. 91.8 points above standard; +6.3

• Suspension rate: Blue. 0.3% suspended at least one day; -1.1%

• Chronic absenteeism rate: Orange. 11.7% chronically absent (no change)

• English-learner progress: No rating (fewer than 11 students)

• Science: Blue. 77.8 points; +4.2

Torrey Pines Elementary

• English language arts: Green. 86.2 points above standard; -15

• Math: Green. 70.5 points above standard; -16.8

• Suspension rate: Blue. 0.2% suspended at least one day; -0.2%

• Chronic absenteeism rate: Orange. 10.6% chronically absent; +1%

• English-learner progress: No color. 66.7% making progress; -33.3% (21 students)

• Science: Green. 70 points; -3.6

Muirlands Middle

• English language arts: Blue. 73.3 points above standard; +3.2

• Math: Blue. 48.3 points above standard; -0.3

• Suspension rate: Green. 3% suspended at least one day; -0.6%

• Chronic absenteeism rate: Yellow. 10.9% chronically absent; -0.5%

• English-learner progress: No rating (fewer than 11 students)

• Science: Blue. 69.5 points; +0.3

La Jolla High

• English language arts: Blue. 58.8 points above average; +21.8

• Math: Blue. 23.1 points above standard; +17

• Suspension rate: Green. 1.7% suspended at least one day; -0.8%

• English-learner progress: No color. 55.6% making progress; +2.6% (18 students)

• College and career preparedness: Green. 84.1% prepared; -4.3%

• Graduation rate: Blue. 97.5% graduated; -0.6%

• Science: Blue. 64.2 points; +6.7

La Jolla schools’ color ratings were fairly consistent with last year’s results, with a few exceptions.

Perhaps most notably, Torrey Pines Elementary took significant drops in English language arts and math. Though it remained well above average, the school went from “blue” to “green” in those categories.

Principal Keith Keiper said there were “no immediate trends that would explain the dip in scores from the prior year.” He pointed out Torrey Pines’ “significant gains” from 2022 to 2024.

Bird Rock Elementary’s ratings held steady, with Principal Eric Banatao attributing the school’s strong academic performance to the hard work of teachers, parents, students and support staff.

However, Bird Rock’s chronic absenteeism rating dropped two levels from “green” to “orange.”

“We recognize that student attendance and student performance are correlated,” Banatao said. “Improving student attendance can mean even higher student performance.”

La Jolla Elementary’s chronic absenteeism rating also was downgraded, from “yellow” to orange.”

“Although our rates for chronic absenteeism are in the orange designation and we have more work to do in the area of attendance, I’m proud of our results from the past couple of years,” said La Jolla Elementary Principal Stephanie Hasselbrink.

She noted that the school’s chronic absenteeism rate has dropped significantly from a high of 18.4% in 2022.

La Jolla High, meanwhile, boasted a lower suspension rate and significantly higher English and math ratings than last year.

“The gains in English language arts and mathematics, along with our lower suspension rate, reflect the commitment of our students, staff and families to maintaining a positive, academically focused school culture,” said Principal Chuck Podhorsky.

Before Muirlands Principal Brendan Simon began his tenure at the middle school, he told the La Jolla Light in April that he saw room for improvement with its chronic absenteeism and suspension rates.

Though he says he’s pleased with this year’s dashboard results in both categories, “there are some things that are a little outside of our control with that. But for the most part, we are focused on what we can control, which is engaging students [and] talking about why attendance is important.”

San Diego Unified, the county’s largest district and the state’s second-largest, posted improvements in many areas compared with last year’s dashboard. As a whole, SDUSD got “green” marks in English language arts, math, suspension rate, graduation rate and college and career readiness.

The district’s sharpest improvements were in English (+5.2 points) and math (+4.5 points).

For a look at the entire searchable dashboard, go to caschooldashboard.org.