1
Enrollment
962
Middle
DISTRICT 838 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DESERT SANDS UNIFIED·NCES 061111012396
Desert Ridge Academy
79-767 Avenue 39, Indio, CA 92203 · (760) 393-5500 · Riverside County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL962 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% 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.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- A-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
23.6:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.2:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
81%
784 students
DISTRICT 79% · 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 | 294 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 322 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 346 | 36% |
Student demographics
27%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 39% · 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
34.5%
CA avg 49.1% . -5.5pp since 2014
Math
17.4%
CA avg 37.7% . -5.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 34 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are down about 6 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 6 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 10.9% | 23.6% | 24.9% | 40.6% |
| Math | 7.7% | 9.7% | 22.7% | 59.9% |
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 | 34.5% | 17.4% |
| 2023-24 | 24.9% | 13.4% |
| 2022-23 | 28.7% | 13.8% |
| 2021-22 | 28.8% | 12.0% |
| 2018-19 | 40.1% | 25.4% |
| 2017-18 | 37.2% | 26.4% |
| 2016-17 | 42.6% | 31.3% |
| 2015-16 | 43.0% | 29.0% |
| 2014-15 | 40.0% | 23.0% |
% 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
22.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% 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 Desert Ridge Academy
Desert Ridge Academy's state test result (22.7% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Ridge Academy this school | 962 | 81.5% | 22.7% |
| Los Banos Junior High Los Banos | 938 | 84.3% | 25.2% |
| E. O. Green Junior High Oxnard | 949 | 81.5% | 20.8% |
| Washington Middle Salinas | 1,082 | 81.7% | 33.6% |
| Walter Stiern Middle Bakersfield | 891 | 81.5% | 16.3% |
| Creekside Junior High Los Banos | 812 | 84.6% | 19.1% |
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 Desert Ridge Academy ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Riverside County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.7% | #974 of 1,224 | #56 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.4% | #952 of 1,227 ▲ 58 | #53 of 78 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.5% | #869 of 1,227 ▲ 187 | #50 of 78 ▲ 12 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.6pp | #271 of 1,214 | #11 of 77 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 962 | #235 of 1,377 | #35 of 79 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.6:1 | #1,036 of 1,279 | #53 of 78 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 27.2% | #975 of 1,278 | #63 of 77 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 81.5% | #505 of 1,329 | #43 of 78 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -31.6% | #99 of 930 | #4 of 61 |
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
962
-97 (-9%) vs 2020
+4% since 2010-11, when it was 926
Student : Teacher
23.6:1
was 27.9:1
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 | 962 | 40.7 | 23.6:1 | 81% (784) |
| 2023-24 | 1,018 | 44.6 | 22.8:1 | 81% (829) |
| 2022-23 | 1,030 | 40.4 | 25.5:1 | 81% (834) |
| 2020-21 | 1,059 | 38 | 27.9:1 | 75% (798) |
| 2017-18 | 1,407 | 49.1 | 28.6:1 | 71% (1,000) |
| 2015-16 | 1,318 | 47 | 28.0:1 | 74% (974) |
| 2010-11 | 926 | N/A | N/A | 76% (702) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Desert Ridge Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 32% (1,407 to 962); teachers down 17% (49.1 to 40.7).
About Desert Ridge Academy
Desert Ridge Academy is a medium-sized middle-grades school in Indio, California, under Desert Sands Unified. The grade span is 6 through 8, and enrollment is 962 students. Average enrollment for middle schools in California is about 659, so this school runs 46% bigger than that.
Desert Ridge Academy is a school in Desert Sands Unified. The district has 34 schools and 25,613 students.
Federal enrollment data show Desert Ridge Academy is 85% Hispanic. The school is also 8% White and 3% multiracial. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 51%. The school's diversity index is 27%, meaning two students picked at random have a 27% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Teachers at Desert Ridge Academy total 40.7 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 23.6:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 20.7:1 average for middle schools in California. The school counts 784 students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or 81%.
Measured against California public middle schools, Desert Ridge Academy receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
In California, Desert Ridge Academy is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 22.7% actual against a predicted 31.8%.
In Riverside County (population about 2,478,600), the median household income is $93,074, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 26% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 8%. There are 543 public schools in Riverside County, enrolling about 424,872 students in all.
Of nearby public schools, Shadow Hills High is the closest, at about 0.2 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Desert Ridge Academy. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Desert Ridge Academy is 6th of 7 on proficiency.
Desert Ridge Academy is in rural territory close to an urban area, a location NCES labels Rural: Fringe.
Enrollment dropped 9% from its 2020-21 level of 1,059. Its ratio of students to teachers was 27.9:1 in 2020-21, and 23.6:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about school safety, transportation, and start times can be posted here. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Riverside County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,478,600
Census ACS
Median income
$93,074
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
26%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
543
424,872 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Desert Sands Unified
- La Quinta HighHigh · 2,425 students
- Palm Desert HighHigh · 2,079 students
- Indio HighHigh · 1,962 students
- Shadow Hills HighHigh · 1,650 students
- Palm Desert Charter MiddleMiddle · 1,298 students
- John Glenn Middle School of International StudiesMiddle · 1,099 students
Other schools in Indio
- Indio HighHigh · 1,962 students
- Shadow Hills HighHigh · 1,650 students
- John Glenn Middle School of International StudiesMiddle · 1,099 students
- Indio MiddleMiddle · 768 students
- Andrew Jackson ElementaryElementary · 750 students
- Amelia Earhart Elementary School of International StudiesElementary · 748 students
Nearby schools
- Shadow Hills High0.2 mi · 1,650
- James Monroe Elementary2.1 mi · 562
- Ronald Reagan Elementary2.4 mi · 808
- Carrillo Ranch Elementary2.6 mi · 459
- Horizon2.6 mi · 286
- Summit High (Continuation)2.6 mi · 195
Frequently asked questions
About Desert Ridge AcademyHow many students attend Desert Ridge Academy?
Desert Ridge Academy enrolls approximately 962 students in grades 06-08.
Is Desert Ridge Academy an elementary, middle, or high school?
Desert Ridge Academy is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Desert Ridge Academy?
Approximately 23.6:1 students per teacher at Desert Ridge Academy.
What is the student diversity at Desert Ridge Academy?
Student demographics at Desert Ridge Academy are roughly 8% White, 85% Hispanic, 1% Black, 2% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Desert Ridge Academy in?
Desert Ridge Academy is part of Desert Sands Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.