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If you had an hour of school board time for Bell Middle, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
700
Middle
DISTRICT 688 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAN DIEGO UNIFIED·NCES 063432005419
Bell Middle
620 Briarwood Rd., San Diego, CA 92139 · (619) 430-1000 · San Diego County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL700 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 26% of California public middle schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded California public middle schools
Student : Teacher
21.4:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.6:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
81%
568 students
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 246 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 214 | 31% |
| Grade 8 | 240 | 34% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
35.9%
CA avg 49.1% . +5.9pp since 2014
Math
15.0%
CA avg 37.7% . -5.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 36 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are up about 6 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 5 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 8.2% | 27.7% | 27.9% | 36.2% |
| Math | 4.1% | 10.9% | 26.8% | 58.1% |
Share of tested students at each CAASPP level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
CAASPP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 35.9% | 15.0% |
| 2023-24 | 29.4% | 15.2% |
| 2022-23 | 28.8% | 16.4% |
| 2021-22 | 27.0% | 14.4% |
| 2018-19 | 33.4% | 24.5% |
| 2017-18 | 31.6% | 26.7% |
| 2016-17 | 31.0% | 18.5% |
| 2015-16 | 31.0% | 20.0% |
| 2014-15 | 30.0% | 20.0% |
% met or exceeded standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CAASPP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
23.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.0%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among California's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Bell Middle
Bell Middle's state test result (23.8% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Middle this school | 700 | 81.1% | 23.8% |
| Jessie Nelson Academy Signal Hill | 832 | 80.5% | 27.8% |
| Fern Bacon Middle Sacramento | 679 | 87.6% | 25.4% |
| Stephens Middle Long Beach | 658 | 76.9% | 43.5% |
| Bancroft Middle San Leandro | 948 | 79.0% | 26.0% |
| Rudolph Rivera Middle Merced | 608 | 81.7% | 26.0% |
Matched among California middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Bell Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.8% | #943 of 1,224 | #78 of 92 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.0% | #1,023 of 1,227 ▼ 67 | #79 of 92 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 35.9% | #830 of 1,227 ▲ 104 | #67 of 92 ▲ 10 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.8pp | #325 of 1,214 | #16 of 91 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 700 | #602 of 1,377 | #55 of 104 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.4:1 | #695 of 1,279 | #51 of 100 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.4% | #304 of 1,278 | #31 of 100 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 81.1% | #520 of 1,329 | #20 of 102 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +3.7% | #167 of 257 | #11 of 16 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
700
-83 (-11%) vs 2020
-69% since 1990-91, when it was 2,277
Student : Teacher
21.4:1
was 22.4:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 700 | 32.7 | 21.4:1 | 81% (568) |
| 2023-24 | 713 | 35.1 | 20.3:1 | 79% (565) |
| 2022-23 | 776 | 33.6 | 23.1:1 | 77% (600) |
| 2020-21 | 783 | 35 | 22.4:1 | 70% (551) |
| 2017-18 | 675 | 30.8 | 21.9:1 | 79% (531) |
| 2015-16 | 868 | 39 | 22.3:1 | 81% (702) |
| 2010-11 | 1,056 | N/A | N/A | 80% (843) |
| 2000-01 | 2,073 | 94 | 22.1:1 | 51% (1,060) |
| 1990-91 | 2,277 | 93 | 24.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bell Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (675 to 700); teachers up 6% (30.8 to 32.7).
About Bell Middle
Bell Middle is a public middle-grades school in San Diego, California. There are 700 students enrolled, covering grades 6 through 8.
Bell Middle is one of the 174 schools that make up San Diego Unified (94,828 students in total).
Hispanic students are 54% of those enrolled at Bell Middle. The rest of enrollment is 20% Asian, 13% Black, 8% multiracial, and 4% White. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of San Diego County's population at about 35%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 64%.
For every teacher at Bell Middle, there are about 21.4 students; the school has 32.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is in line with the 20.7:1 average for middle schools in California. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 81%. It compares with 54% for public schools in San Diego County.
On the allk12 Grade, Bell Middle lands at C, ahead of 26% of California public middle schools.
Bell Middle's actual average proficiency rate across its state test results (23.8%) and its predicted rate (32.0%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of California schools.
For the population of San Diego County, the median household earns about $106,268 a year, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Across San Diego County, 766 public schools serve about 467,437 students.
Among nearby public schools, Boone Elementary is closest at about 0.5 miles. Bell Middle is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 40.1%, higher than Bell Middle's 23.8%.
NCES lists the school's locale as City: Large. That means it sits inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment was 700 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 783.
On allk12, people connected to Bell Middle can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Members of the school community can share what they know.
San Diego County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,288,774
Census ACS
Median income
$106,268
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
766
467,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in San Diego Unified
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Hoover HighHigh · 2,011 students
- Scripps Ranch HighHigh · 1,890 students
- Point Loma HighHigh · 1,724 students
- San Diego HighHigh · 1,602 students
Other schools in San Diego
- Del Norte HighHigh · 2,557 students
- Torrey Pines HighHigh · 2,536 students
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Rancho Bernardo HighHigh · 2,210 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Canyon Crest AcademyHigh · 2,147 students
Other Bell Middle schools
One other US public school is named Bell Middle. Bell Middle is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Bell Middle SchoolGOLDEN, CO · 774 students
Nearby schools
- Boone Elementary0.5 mi · 342
- Zamorano Elementary0.6 mi · 823
- Bethune K-80.7 mi · 520
- San Diego SCPA0.9 mi · 1,297
- Morse High1.0 mi · 1,591
- Fulton K-81.1 mi · 310
Frequently asked questions
About Bell MiddleHow many students attend Bell Middle?
Bell Middle enrolls approximately 700 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Bell Middle serve?
Bell Middle serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Bell Middle?
Approximately 21.4:1 students per teacher at Bell Middle.
What is the student diversity at Bell Middle?
Student demographics at Bell Middle are roughly 4% White, 54% Hispanic, 13% Black, 20% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Bell Middle public or private?
Bell Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by San Diego Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.