Desert Springs Middle

Desert Springs Middle is one of the reasonably sized intermediate schools in Desert Hot Springs, California, one of the schools within Palm Springs Unified, with 749 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8.

Palm Springs Unified runs 27 schools in total, collectively educating 20,007 students. Desert Springs Middle is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Desert Springs Middle logs that 85% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Other groups include 6% White, 5% Black, 2% multiracial. By comparison, Riverside County as a whole is about 51% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Desert Springs Middle has 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 97% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Riverside County's rate of about 74%.

After controlling for student poverty, Desert Springs Middle tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 21.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 17.0%.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Riverside County) logs that median household earnings sit near $93,074, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Riverside County runs 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), of which Desert Springs Middle is one.

Nearest neighbor: Two Bunch Palms Elementary, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 7 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Desert Springs Middle at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 22.9%.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Desert Springs Middle's enrollment has declined 23% since 2018, when it stood at 977 (now 749). The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 22.1:1 in 2018 to 20.4:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.