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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at John F. Kennedy Junior High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
531
Middle
DISTRICT 518 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HANFORD ELEMENTARY·NCES 061647003154
John F. Kennedy Junior High
1000 East Florinda St., Hanford, CA 93232 · (559) 585-3850 · Kings County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL531 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 68% of California public middle schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-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
21.2:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.6:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
440 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 7 | 261 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 270 | 51% |
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 36% · 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
49.2%
CA avg 49.1% . +8.2pp since 2014
Math
31.8%
CA avg 37.7% . +7.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are up about 8 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 13.5% | 35.7% | 24.9% | 25.9% |
| Math | 13.1% | 18.6% | 28.8% | 39.4% |
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 | 49.2% | 31.8% |
| 2023-24 | 37.8% | 25.2% |
| 2022-23 | 38.6% | 28.7% |
| 2021-22 | 45.0% | 24.3% |
| 2020-21 | 36.6% | 19.6% |
| 2018-19 | 42.0% | 32.3% |
| 2017-18 | 37.7% | 33.2% |
| 2016-17 | 43.8% | 27.7% |
| 2015-16 | 45.0% | 24.0% |
| 2014-15 | 41.0% | 24.0% |
% 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
36.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.0%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 36% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 31% 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 John F. Kennedy Junior High
John F. Kennedy Junior High's state test result (36.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| John F. Kennedy Junior High this school | 531 | 82.9% | 36.0% |
| Seaside Middle Seaside | 521 | 83.5% | 25.5% |
| Compton Junior High Bakersfield | 586 | 85.8% | 18.8% |
| Parkview Middle Armona | 443 | 83.3% | 24.7% |
| Los Tules Middle Tulare | 569 | 84.9% | 26.8% |
| Cesar Chavez Middle Oceanside | 557 | 80.4% | 31.8% |
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 John F. Kennedy Junior High ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Kings County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 36.0% | #608 of 1,224 | #5 of 8 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.8% | #565 of 1,227 ▲ 90 | #4 of 8 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.2% | #508 of 1,227 ▲ 200 | #4 of 8 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.8pp | #259 of 1,214 | #2 of 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 531 | #875 of 1,377 | #5 of 9 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.2:1 | #667 of 1,279 | #6 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 33.0% | #911 of 1,278 | #4 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 82.9% | #462 of 1,329 | #4 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.8% | #599 of 930 | 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
531
-60 (-10%) vs 2020
+9% since 2000-01, when it was 488
Student : Teacher
21.2:1
was 25.7:1
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 | 531 | 25 | 21.2:1 | 83% (440) |
| 2023-24 | 521 | 26.9 | 19.4:1 | 88% (456) |
| 2022-23 | 517 | 25.8 | 20.0:1 | 87% (449) |
| 2020-21 | 591 | 23 | 25.7:1 | 88% (518) |
| 2017-18 | 602 | 24.1 | 25.0:1 | 88% (530) |
| 2015-16 | 557 | 24 | 23.2:1 | 85% (472) |
| 2010-11 | 550 | N/A | N/A | 82% (450) |
| 2000-01 | 488 | 23 | 21.2:1 | 54% (264) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for John F. Kennedy Junior High.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (602 to 531); teachers up 4% (24.1 to 25).
About John F. Kennedy Junior High
John F. Kennedy Junior High is a small middle school for students in Hanford, California. Its 531 students are spread across grades 7 through 8.
John F. Kennedy Junior High is one of the 12 schools that make up Hanford Elementary (5,460 students in total).
Most students at John F. Kennedy Junior High are Hispanic: 81% of enrollment. Smaller groups are 8% White, 5% multiracial, and 4% Black. For comparison, the population of Kings County is roughly 58% Hispanic. John F. Kennedy Junior High has a diversity index of 33%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Staffing totals 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 21.2:1. Across middle schools in California, the average ratio is about 20.7:1. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at John F. Kennedy Junior High is 83%. That is 9 points above the 74% average for public schools in Kings County.
allk12 grades John F. Kennedy Junior High a B+. The grade compares the school only with California public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for John F. Kennedy Junior High is 31.0%, and its average proficiency rate on state tests is 36.0%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Kings County show that median household income is about $70,995, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 14%, and about 13% of people live in poverty. John F. Kennedy Junior High is one of 67 public schools in Kings County, which together enroll about 28,742 students.
The closest other public school is Kings County Special Education, about 0.1 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts John F. Kennedy Junior High at 2nd of 5.
For locale, NCES codes John F. Kennedy Junior High as City: Small.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count dropped from 591 to 531. Students per teacher fell from 25.7 in 2020-21 to 21.2 in 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Kings County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
153,298
Census ACS
Median income
$70,995
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
14%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
67
28,742 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Hanford Elementary
- Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryElementary · 624 students
- Monroe ElementaryElementary · 611 students
- Joseph M. SimasElementary · 514 students
- Woodrow Wilson Junior HighMiddle · 505 students
- Jefferson AcademyElementary · 501 students
- Roosevelt ElementaryElementary · 490 students
Other schools in Hanford
- Hanford HighHigh · 1,498 students
- Hanford West HighHigh · 1,331 students
- Sierra Pacific HighHigh · 1,183 students
- Kings Valley Academy IICombined · 1,090 students
- Kings River-Hardwick ElementaryElementary · 860 students
- Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryElementary · 624 students
Other John F. Kennedy Junior High schools
One other US public school is named John F. Kennedy Junior High. John F. Kennedy Junior High is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- John F. Kennedy Jr HighWEST VALLEY CITY, UT · 772 students
Nearby schools
- Kings County Special Education0.1 mi · 393
- Lee Richmond Elementary0.2 mi · 402
- Earl F. Johnson High (Continuation)0.9 mi · 50
- Hamilton Elementary0.9 mi · 418
- Hanford High1.0 mi · 1,498
- Hanford Community Day1.1 mi · 38
Frequently asked questions
About John F. Kennedy Junior HighHow many students attend John F. Kennedy Junior High?
John F. Kennedy Junior High enrolls approximately 531 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does John F. Kennedy Junior High serve?
John F. Kennedy Junior High serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many teachers does John F. Kennedy Junior High have?
John F. Kennedy Junior High employs 25 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 21.2:1.
How diverse is John F. Kennedy Junior High?
John F. Kennedy Junior High reports a student body of 8% White, 81% Hispanic, 4% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees John F. Kennedy Junior High?
John F. Kennedy Junior High is overseen by Hanford Elementary in Kings County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.