Despite a general drop in English performance, La Jolla’s five public campuses in the San Diego Unified School District remain well above district and state levels in standardized testing.
According to 2024 data from the California Department of Education, San Diego Unified had a age rate (percentage of students who met or exceeded standards) of 54 percent in English language arts and 42 percent in math — ahead of the statewide rates of 47 percent and 36 percent.
All of the schools in SDUSD’s La Jolla cluster outperformed both the district and state.
On average, La Jolla’s schools saw a 3-percentage-point decrease in English rates and about a half-percentage-point increase in math.
Here are the age rates for each local school:
Bird Rock Elementary School
English age rate: 71%. Percentage-point change from 2023: -7Math age rate: 83%. Change from 2023: +4
La Jolla Elementary School
English age rate: 86%. Change from 2023: -2Math age rate: 87%. Change from 2023: -6
Torrey Pines Elementary School
English age rate: 85%. Change from 2023: -1Math age rate: 86%. Change from 2023: 0
Muirlands Middle School
English age rate: 78%. Change from 2023: 0Math age rate: 68%. Change from 2023: +1
La Jolla High School
English age rate: 68%. Change from 2023: -5Math age rate: 56%. Change from 2023: +3
Bird Rock Elementary Principal Eric Banatao said his school’s scores remain strong, despite the 7-point drop in English, and that he is working with his team to identify growth areas, including identifying students who score well below or above standards.
“Our teachers and I are working diligently to provide more data and opportunities for how we can meet the needs of all kids here at Bird Rock,” Banatao said.
Though La Jolla High’s age rates were lower than the other local schools, Principal Chuck Podhorsky said standardized tests are not the only way to properly measure student success.
“Unfortunately, the state [high school] assessment does not measure individual students’ growth over time because it is only istered to 11th-grade students,” Podhorsky said. “Each year, we continue to refine our work to meet all measures of success at the highest levels. Our best indicator of success is the incredible graduation rate we continue to have and the numbers of exceptional universities our students attend.”
According to California’s annual school performance ratings released in December, La Jolla High was among the top performers in graduation rate, at 98.6 percent. Its 86 percent rate for college and career preparedness was characterized as very high.
Muirlands Middle and Torrey Pines Elementary had virtually no changes in their test age rates.
Muirlands Principal Jeff Luna said he’s pleased with his school’s performance and with SDUSD performing above the state average.
But as always, he said, there is room for improvement.
“It’s kind of like an analogy of baseball,” Luna said. “You’ve won your division and you celebrate that, but that’s not the end goal. Our end goal is to make sure all of our kids are ed [and] all of our kids are at standard.”
Each Wednesday, Muirlands has modified school days to allow time for teachers to identify areas of curriculum and assessments that can be improved.
“I’m really pleased with the incredible staff we have here at Muirlands and the job they have done to make connections with kids to make sure the kids feel welcome and … want to be on campus,” Luna said.
English and math performance for each school and school district in San Diego County can be found here:
