While 84% of white students in the Goleta Union School District met English proficiency last school year, only 40% of its Hispanic/Latino students met the standard.
For math, 76% of white students met proficiency, compared to only 32% of Hispanic/Latino students.
While California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test scores from the district-wide were relatively steady from the year prior, the gap between Hispanic/Latino and white students remains wide.
“If we don’t consider the context from which kids are coming to school, and what that might mean, we’re missing part of the story,” said Mary Kahn, the Goleta Union superintendent.
Hispanic/Latino students make up 46% of the district, and white students make up 36%.
White students were up three points in English and two points in math from the year prior, and Hispanic/Latino students were down two points in English, while math scores remained approximately the same.
Dr. Letitia Bradley, Goleta Union’s assistant superintendent of educational services, presented the CAASP results at the district’s board of trustee’s meeting on Sept. 9.
Bradley said one significant data point from the test results was the increase in the number of Black/African American students at/above proficiency in English.
92% of Black/African American students met or exceeded proficiency in English, up 14% from the previous year. It is the highest among any ethnic group.
“We were really working on promptly addressing issues of racism that come up and making sure that behavior stops, and education happens,” Kahn said.
The district overall saw a one-point decrease in English and one-point increase in math for the 2025-2026 school year. About 62% of students met English proficiency and 55% met proficiency in math.
The highest gains in students meeting or exceeding English proficiency from the prior school year were seen at La Patera (+4 points), Kellogg (+4 points) and Foothill (+3 points) elementary schools.
The largest decreases were at Isla Vista (-8 points), El Camino (-3 points) and Ellwood (-3 points) elementary schools.
Mountain View, Foothill and Kellogg elementary schools scored highest in English and math this year. Schools with a greater share of white students generally performed better.
Among Goleta Union’s nine elementary schools, Mountain View, Foothill, and Kellogg elementary schools were the highest performing in English, with 83%, 78% and 75% of students scoring at or above proficiency, respectively.
54% of La Patera, 51% of Ellwood and 42% of El Camino elementary students met English proficiency – the three lowest performing in the district.
Over the past four years, La Patera, Brandon and Mountain View elementary have grown the most with a five-point improvement in students at/above English proficiency. For math, Brandon with 13 points, La Patera with 10 and Foothill with 3 points improved the most.
In the same time frame, Hollister and Isla Vista have struggled with declining English and math scores. Hollister has gone down 11 points in English and 17 points in math proficiency. Isla Vista has decreased by 5 and 4 points in English and math proficiency, respectively. El Camino went down 7 points in math.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the highest gains in students meeting or exceeding math standards from the prior school year were seen at Kellogg (+12 points), La Patera (+10 points) and Foothill (+2 points) elementary schools.
The largest decreases were at Hollister (-12 points), Isla Vista (-5 points) and El Camino (-1 points) elementary schools.
77% of Mountain View, 71% of Foothill and 69% of Kellogg elementary school students scored at or above proficiency in math.
The schools that scored the lowest in math were Hollister, Ellwood and El Camino elementary schools with 43%, 42% and 34% of students meeting math proficiency, respectively.
El Camino Elementary School is a Dual Language Immersion school where 26% of students are classified as English learners and therefore not at grade-level.
To improve scores this year, Bradley said the district will align windows of analyzing test scores so teachers and other district staff would look at the same data at the same time.
She added that the district will focus on partnerships with after school programs and equipping parents with the proper tools to help their children succeed.
A full breakdown of test results from the 2025-2026 school year can be found here.
