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Which teacher or staff member at James Monroe Middle deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
490
Middle
DISTRICT 567 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SIERRA SANDS UNIFIED·NCES 063680006235
James Monroe Middle
340 West Church St., Ridgecrest, CA 93555 · (760) 499-1830 · Kern County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL490 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 13% of California public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C+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
19.4:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.5:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
58%
286 students
DISTRICT 64% · 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 | 148 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 169 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 173 | 35% |
Student demographics
65%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
32.6%
CA avg 49.1% . -5.4pp since 2014
Math
15.4%
CA avg 37.7% . -6.6pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 33 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 down about 5 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 | 8.4% | 24.2% | 24.9% | 42.6% |
| Math | 5.6% | 9.8% | 22.6% | 62.0% |
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 | 32.6% | 15.4% |
| 2023-24 | 35.5% | 15.5% |
| 2022-23 | 33.3% | 14.6% |
| 2021-22 | 30.4% | 14.5% |
| 2020-21 | 28.9% | 16.1% |
| 2018-19 | 38.4% | 20.4% |
| 2017-18 | 33.2% | 19.7% |
| 2016-17 | 37.7% | 21.5% |
| 2015-16 | 37.0% | 22.0% |
| 2014-15 | 38.0% | 22.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
24.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
45.3%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-20.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 45% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 James Monroe Middle
James Monroe Middle's state test result (24.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Monroe Middle this school | 490 | 58.4% | 24.7% |
| Murray Middle Ridgecrest | 643 | 56.1% | 27.0% |
| Sylvan Middle Citrus Heights | 604 | 64.1% | 18.2% |
| Bear River Wheatland | 585 | 58.8% | 41.9% |
| Emerson Community Charter Los Angeles | 454 | 57.9% | 48.2% |
| Norman L. Sullivan Middle Bonsall | 529 | 54.6% | 42.0% |
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 James Monroe Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Kern County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 24.7% | #916 of 1,224 | #23 of 46 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.4% | #1,016 of 1,227 ▼ 77 | #30 of 46 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 32.6% | #925 of 1,227 ▼ 147 | #23 of 46 ▼ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +1.6pp | #674 of 1,214 | #22 of 46 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 490 | #936 of 1,377 | #38 of 48 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.4:1 | #376 of 1,279 | #12 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.3% | #278 of 1,278 | #3 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 58.4% | #852 of 1,329 | #39 of 46 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.3% | #200 of 257 | #13 of 18 |
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
490
0 (0%) vs 2020
-30% since 1990-91, when it was 698
Student : Teacher
19.4:1
was 19.6:1
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 | 490 | 25.3 | 19.4:1 | 58% (286) |
| 2023-24 | 542 | 27 | 20.1:1 | 57% (310) |
| 2022-23 | 548 | 26.1 | 21.0:1 | 49% (267) |
| 2020-21 | 490 | 25 | 19.6:1 | 66% (322) |
| 2017-18 | 479 | 23.9 | 20.1:1 | 56% (267) |
| 2015-16 | 518 | 24 | 21.6:1 | 59% (308) |
| 2010-11 | 536 | N/A | N/A | 46% (246) |
| 2000-01 | 579 | 26 | 22.3:1 | 36% (210) |
| 1990-91 | 698 | 32 | 21.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for James Monroe Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (479 to 490); teachers up 6% (23.9 to 25.3).
About James Monroe Middle
James Monroe Middle is a small middle school in Ridgecrest, California, one of the schools in Sierra Sands Unified. It serves 490 students in grades 6 through 8. For comparison, middle schools in California average about 659 students.
Sierra Sands Unified oversees James Monroe Middle and 9 other schools, with 4,974 students in total.
At James Monroe Middle, the largest share of students is White, at 47%. After that, the student body is 34% Hispanic, 8% Black, 7% multiracial, and 3% Asian. For comparison, Kern County is about 44% White. Pick two students at random and there is a 65% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The teaching staff at James Monroe Middle is 25.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 19.4:1. This ratio sits 1.3 below the 20.7:1 average for middle schools in California. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 58%. The 76% average for public schools in Kern County is 18 points higher.
The allk12 Grade for James Monroe Middle is D. Compared with California public middle schools, the school scored higher than 13% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Schools in California with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate on state tests near 45.3%. James Monroe Middle posts 24.7%, 20.7 points below that, which places it in the bottom 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
James Monroe Middle is located in Kern County, where the median household income is $70,210, 19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 15% of people live in poverty. James Monroe Middle is one of 279 public schools in the county.
Ridgecrest Elem Acad for Language Music and Sci is located about 0.7 miles from James Monroe Middle. The five-mile area around James Monroe Middle holds at least 8 other public schools. Among 7 nearby schools that report test results, James Monroe Middle ranks 6th on proficiency.
In the federal locale system, James Monroe Middle is coded Town: Remote, for schools in a town far from an urbanized area.
Enrollment at James Monroe Middle was 490 in 2020-21 and 490 in 2024-25, a change of less than 3%.
If you have questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at James Monroe Middle, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Kern County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
915,075
Census ACS
Median income
$70,210
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
279
197,431 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Sierra Sands Unified
- Burroughs HighHigh · 1,536 students
- Murray MiddleMiddle · 643 students
- Las Flores ElementaryElementary · 526 students
- Faller ElementaryElementary · 516 students
- Richmond ElementaryElementary · 364 students
- Gateway ElementaryElementary · 346 students
Other schools in Ridgecrest
- Burroughs HighHigh · 1,536 students
- Murray MiddleMiddle · 643 students
- Las Flores ElementaryElementary · 526 students
- Faller ElementaryElementary · 516 students
- Richmond ElementaryElementary · 364 students
- Gateway ElementaryElementary · 346 students
Other James Monroe Middle schools
One other US public school is named James Monroe Middle. James Monroe Middle is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- JAMES MONROE MIDDLEALBUQUERQUE, NM · 630 students
Nearby schools
- Ridgecrest Elem Acad for Language Music and Sci0.7 mi · 239
- Las Flores Elementary0.9 mi · 526
- Pierce Elementary1.3 mi · 297
- Mesquite Continuation High1.3 mi · 95
- Gateway Elementary1.4 mi · 346
- Murray Middle1.4 mi · 643
Frequently asked questions
About James Monroe MiddleHow many students attend James Monroe Middle?
James Monroe Middle enrolls approximately 490 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does James Monroe Middle serve?
James Monroe Middle serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at James Monroe Middle?
The student-to-teacher ratio at James Monroe Middle is approximately 19.4:1 (25 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at James Monroe Middle?
At James Monroe Middle, the student body is approximately 47% White, 34% Hispanic, 8% Black, 3% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is James Monroe Middle public or private?
James Monroe Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Sierra Sands Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.