Dana

As a mid-sized junior high in San Diego, California, Dana teaches 646 students from grades 5 through 6, overseen by San Diego Unified.

Across the 174 schools in San Diego Unified (94,828 students total), Dana accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Dana lists that the most-represented group is White (52%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 30% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 4% Black, 3% Asian. Compared to San Diego County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Dana has 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 23.1:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 20.7:1 average. An estimated 38% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, San Diego County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Dana performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 56.7%, the actual is 64.0%, a residual of +7.2 points.

In the broader community, San Diego County reports that the typical household earns roughly $106,268 per year, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Dana is one of 766 public schools in San Diego County (combined enrollment of about 467,437 students).

Silver Gate Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Dana comes 2nd of 5 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 58.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a metropolitan area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 16%: 768 students in 2018 compared to 646 in 2025.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.