SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Students at Burbank Elementary School in Logan Heights have achieved remarkable gains in English reading and math test scores, earning recognition from California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond during his visit today.
The school's success is particularly noteworthy because the majority of students speak Spanish as their first language, yet they are outperforming state averages in literacy and mathematics.
"Great things are happening in this district and that's why we came here today to put a spotlight on that," Thurmond said.
Burbank Elementary and the San Diego Unified School District overall are showing standout growth, with students performing stronger across the board rather than simply getting by.
District-wide improvements
San Diego Unified's latest test results show consistent upward trends across all student populations. In English language arts, 56.1% of students met or exceeded standards, representing a 1.9-point increase from last year. Math scores also improved, with 45.3% of students meeting or exceeding standards, up 1.4 points.
The district's Hispanic and Latino students, who represent the largest student group, showed particularly strong gains. English proficiency jumped from 38.2% to 41.0%, a 2.8-point increase. Math proficiency rose from 26.6% to 28.1%, up 1.5 points.
Dr. Fabi Bagula, superintendent of San Diego Unified School District, emphasized the district's commitment to student progress regardless of starting levels.
"I'm still responsible for a year's worth of growth no matter how you begin when you come to our class," Bagula said.
Burbank Elementary leads the way
Burbank Elementary is significantly outpacing district averages in key areas. The school's English language arts proficiency rose from 23.2% to 29.9%, a 6.7-point increase that's approximately 3.5 times faster than the district average.
Math proficiency at Burbank increased from 14.6% to 15.5%, and while the percentage gain appears modest, deeper learning indicators show substantial improvement in overall math skills.
Hispanic and Latino students at Burbank showed exceptional progress, with English proficiency jumping from 21.5% to 30.5% — a 9-point increase that's more than three times the district's Hispanic student gains.
Bagula highlighted the demographic showing exceptional progress district-wide.
"Our Hispanic and Latino students. They are leading some of the most impressive gains district-wide," she said.
Thurmond's "Move the Needle" initiative has been directing funding and strategies toward helping at-risk students. The school identified key barriers preventing student success.
Principal Francisco Solis discovered that literacy challenges were affecting math performance.
"What we were noticing is the connection to the literacy of many of our math problems, or math work is related to reading problems," Solis said.
Many students spoke English well but struggled to express their ideas in writing. The school developed targeted interventions to address this gap.
"We began to work around what it is that the students needed, and however, the ideas and being able to express now in writing, aside from speaking and listening, have definitely increased," Solis said.
Thurmond announced that San Diego Unified, one of the largest school districts in the country, is now recognized as a leader in statewide test scores.
"San Diego Unified School District is recognized as being number one in 4th-grade and 8th-grade literacy and math," he said.
The official performance data from the state will be released later this month.
