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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Fesler (Isaac) Junior High administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
974
Middle
DISTRICT 846 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SANTA MARIA-BONITA·NCES 060558009317
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High
1100 East Fesler St., Santa Maria, CA 93454 · (805) 361-7880 · Santa Barbara County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL974 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 5% of California public middle schools
- DTest 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.
- FThree-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
20.1:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.7:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
920 students
DISTRICT 93% · 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 7 | 487 | 50% |
| Grade 8 | 487 | 50% |
Student demographics
4%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 9% · 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
20.3%
CA avg 49.1% . -11.8pp since 2014
Math
10.5%
CA avg 37.7% . -7.5pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 20 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 12 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 7 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 4.6% | 15.7% | 26.4% | 53.3% |
| Math | 3.0% | 7.5% | 22.1% | 67.4% |
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 | 20.3% | 10.5% |
| 2023-24 | 21.4% | 7.4% |
| 2022-23 | 26.5% | 9.9% |
| 2021-22 | 28.3% | 13.0% |
| 2018-19 | 36.3% | 19.2% |
| 2017-18 | 33.1% | 16.5% |
| 2016-17 | 33.5% | 19.7% |
| 2015-16 | 35.0% | 18.0% |
| 2014-15 | 32.0% | 18.0% |
% 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
14.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.2%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 15% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% 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 Fesler (Isaac) Junior High
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High's state test result (14.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fesler (Isaac) Junior High this school | 974 | 94.5% | 14.9% |
| Raymond A. Villa Fundamental Intermediate Santa Ana | 936 | 95.3% | 21.0% |
| Chester W. Nimitz Middle Huntington Park | 1,057 | 95.4% | 29.8% |
| Hollenbeck Middle Los Angeles | 927 | 96.0% | 38.0% |
| Toro Canyon Middle Thermal | 989 | 97.1% | 14.3% |
| La Paz Middle Salinas | 1,099 | 93.4% | 24.3% |
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 Fesler (Isaac) Junior High ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Santa Barbara County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.9% | #1,152 of 1,224 | #15 of 15 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.5% | #1,129 of 1,227 ▲ 41 | #15 of 15 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 20.3% | #1,163 of 1,227 ▼ 36 | #15 of 15 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -5.3pp | #61 of 1,214 | #2 of 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 974 | #218 of 1,377 | #1 of 15 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.1:1 | #483 of 1,279 | #11 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 4.1% | #1,242 of 1,278 | #13 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.5% | #128 of 1,329 | #2 of 15 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.6% | #190 of 257 | N/A |
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
974
-15 (-2%) vs 2020
+22% since 1990-91, when it was 799
Student : Teacher
20.1:1
was 19.8:1
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 | 974 | 48.5 | 20.1:1 | 94% (920) |
| 2023-24 | 958 | 51.5 | 18.6:1 | 92% (879) |
| 2022-23 | 959 | 51 | 18.8:1 | 86% (825) |
| 2020-21 | 989 | 50 | 19.8:1 | 88% (868) |
| 2017-18 | 949 | 42 | 22.6:1 | 87% (829) |
| 2015-16 | 913 | 39 | 23.4:1 | 83% (756) |
| 2010-11 | 800 | N/A | N/A | 78% (622) |
| 2000-01 | 839 | 42 | 20.0:1 | 72% (608) |
| 1990-91 | 799 | 39 | 20.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fesler (Isaac) Junior High.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (949 to 974); teachers up 16% (42 to 48.5).
About Fesler (Isaac) Junior High
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is a mid-sized middle school in Santa Maria, California. It teaches 974 students in grades 7 through 8. Middle schools in California have about 659 students on average; enrollment here is 48% higher.
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is one school in a 21-school district, Santa Maria-Bonita, which enrolls 17,408 students.
Hispanic students are 98% of those enrolled at Fesler (Isaac) Junior High. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Santa Barbara County's population at about 48%. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 4, compared with 70 nationally.
The school had 48.5 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 20.1:1. It is about the same as the 20.7:1 average for middle schools in California. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 94%. That is 26 points above the 68% average for public schools in Santa Barbara County.
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 5% of California public middle schools.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is 9.3 points below its prediction. Actual: 14.9%. Predicted: 24.2%.
The school's county is Santa Barbara County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $98,161 a year, roughly 37% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Santa Barbara County number 129, with about 66,191 students.
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is about 0.6 miles from Tunnell (Martin Luther) Elementary, its nearest public school. Fesler (Isaac) Junior High has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Fesler (Isaac) Junior High's average proficiency of 14.9% compares with 20.9% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The NCES locale for Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is City: Mid-size, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school's size has been steady, with 989 students in 2020-21 and 974 in 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Fesler (Isaac) Junior High. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Santa Barbara County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
443,701
Census ACS
Median income
$98,161
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
129
66,191 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Santa Maria-Bonita
- JIMENEZ ROBERTO AND DR. FRANCISCO ELEMENTARYElementary · 1,177 students
- Bruce (Robert) ElementaryElementary · 1,050 students
- Alvin ElementaryElementary · 998 students
- Tunnell (Martin Luther) ElementaryElementary · 917 students
- Kunst (Tommie) Junior HighMiddle · 912 students
- Rice (William) ElementaryElementary · 887 students
Other schools in Santa Maria
- Santa Maria HighHigh · 3,143 students
- Pioneer Valley HighHigh · 3,080 students
- Ernest Righetti HighHigh · 2,416 students
- JIMENEZ ROBERTO AND DR. FRANCISCO ELEMENTARYElementary · 1,177 students
- Bruce (Robert) ElementaryElementary · 1,050 students
- Alvin ElementaryElementary · 998 students
Nearby schools
- Tunnell (Martin Luther) Elementary0.6 mi · 917
- Alvin Elementary0.8 mi · 998
- Rice (William) Elementary0.9 mi · 887
- Pioneer Valley High1.0 mi · 3,080
- El Camino Junior High1.1 mi · 830
- Miller (Isaac) Elementary1.2 mi · 883
Frequently asked questions
About Fesler (Isaac) Junior HighWhat is the total enrollment at Fesler (Isaac) Junior High?
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High enrolls approximately 974 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Fesler (Isaac) Junior High serve?
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High serves grades 07-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Fesler (Isaac) Junior High?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is approximately 20.1:1 (49 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Fesler (Isaac) Junior High?
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High reports a student body of 1% White, 98% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 0% Two or more.
Is Fesler (Isaac) Junior High public or private?
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Santa Maria-Bonita.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.