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Alumni: what's one memory from Mar Vista Academy that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
462
Middle
DISTRICT 880 · STATE 659
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SWEETWATER UNION HIGH·NCES 063864006485
Mar Vista Academy
1267 Thermal Ave., San Diego, CA 92154 · (619) 628-5100 · San Diego County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL462 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 19% 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.
- DBeats 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
18.0:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 22.2:1 · STATE 20.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
60%
275 students
DISTRICT 61% · 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 | 208 | 45% |
| Grade 8 | 254 | 55% |
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 47% · 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
34.6%
CA avg 49.1% . +9.6pp since 2014
Math
17.3%
CA avg 37.7% . +8.3pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 35 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 up about 10 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 | 9.7% | 24.9% | 23.6% | 41.8% |
| Math | 6.3% | 11.0% | 25.4% | 57.2% |
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 | 34.6% | 17.3% |
| 2023-24 | 31.9% | 15.8% |
| 2022-23 | 26.8% | 13.1% |
| 2021-22 | 26.7% | 14.8% |
| 2020-21 | 26.9% | 17.5% |
| 2018-19 | 34.1% | 23.2% |
| 2017-18 | 33.6% | 18.2% |
| 2016-17 | 34.9% | 16.8% |
| 2015-16 | 31.0% | 14.0% |
| 2014-15 | 25.0% | 9.0% |
% 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
24.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.7%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.8pp
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 Mar Vista Academy
Mar Vista Academy's state test result (24.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar Vista Academy this school | 462 | 59.5% | 24.9% |
| Parkway Heights Middle South San Francisco | 573 | 58.3% | 25.0% |
| Lick (James) Middle San Francisco | 479 | 61.8% | 17.6% |
| Monroe Middle San Jose | 677 | 59.1% | 21.8% |
| Rio Vista Middle Oxnard | 637 | 65.1% | 22.1% |
| Arlie F. Hutchinson Middle La Mirada | 646 | 59.3% | 54.9% |
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 Mar Vista Academy ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 24.9% | #910 of 1,224 | #75 of 92 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.3% | #955 of 1,227 ▼ 25 | #75 of 92 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.6% | #867 of 1,227 ▲ 11 | #68 of 92 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.2pp | #299 of 1,214 | #15 of 91 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 462 | #989 of 1,377 | #79 of 104 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.0:1 | #212 of 1,279 | #16 of 100 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 33.4% | #906 of 1,278 | #85 of 100 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 59.5% | #836 of 1,329 | #49 of 102 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -42.0% | #22 of 930 | #2 of 73 |
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
462
-131 (-22%) vs 2020
-58% since 1990-91, when it was 1,106
Student : Teacher
18.0:1
was 20.4:1
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 | 462 | 25.6 | 18.0:1 | 60% (275) |
| 2023-24 | 508 | 28.2 | 18.0:1 | 74% (377) |
| 2022-23 | 552 | 26.4 | 20.9:1 | 86% (475) |
| 2020-21 | 593 | 29 | 20.4:1 | 79% (467) |
| 2017-18 | 797 | 37.1 | 21.5:1 | 84% (673) |
| 2015-16 | 888 | 36 | 24.7:1 | 79% (701) |
| 2010-11 | 1,061 | N/A | N/A | 75% (801) |
| 2000-01 | 1,404 | 62 | 22.6:1 | 66% (920) |
| 1990-91 | 1,106 | 47 | 23.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mar Vista Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 42% (797 to 462); teachers down 31% (37.1 to 25.6).
About Mar Vista Academy
Mar Vista Academy is a middle-grades school located in San Diego, California, in San Diego County. A total of 462 students attend the school, which covers grades 7 through 8. Against the 659-student average for middle schools in California, enrollment here is 30% lower.
Mar Vista Academy is in Sweetwater Union High, a district with 33,517 students across 28 schools.
Most students at Mar Vista Academy are Hispanic: 81% of enrollment. Smaller groups are 8% Asian, 5% White, 3% Black, and 2% multiracial. For comparison, the population of San Diego County is roughly 35% Hispanic. Mar Vista Academy has a diversity index of 33%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Mar Vista Academy's 25.6 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 18.0:1. For comparison, middle schools in California average 20.7:1. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 60%.
The allk12 Grade for Mar Vista Academy is C-. Compared with California public middle schools, the school scored higher than 19% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Mar Vista Academy falls short of its prediction by 19.8 points. The model expects 44.7% for a school with its free or reduced-price lunch share in California; the school's rate is 24.9%.
Census Bureau estimates for San Diego County show that median household income is about $106,268, roughly 43% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Mar Vista Academy is one of 766 public schools in San Diego County, which together enroll about 467,437 students.
The nearest public school is Emory Elementary, at about 0.3 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. On state test proficiency, Mar Vista Academy ranks 6th in a group of 9 nearby schools.
Locale data from NCES put Mar Vista Academy inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more (City: Large).
Enrollment was 593 in 2020-21 and 462 in 2024-25, a decrease of 131 students. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 20.4:1 in 2020-21 to 18.0:1 in 2024-25.
Threads on this page can be about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
San Diego County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,288,774
Census ACS
Median income
$106,268
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
766
467,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Sweetwater Union High
- Eastlake HighHigh · 2,557 students
- Otay Ranch Senior HighHigh · 2,440 students
- Sweetwater HighHigh · 2,290 students
- Olympian HighHigh · 2,289 students
- Bonita Vista Senior HighHigh · 1,960 students
- San Ysidro HighHigh · 1,941 students
Other schools in San Diego
- Del Norte HighHigh · 2,557 students
- Torrey Pines HighHigh · 2,536 students
- Henry HighHigh · 2,485 students
- Rancho Bernardo HighHigh · 2,210 students
- Mira Mesa HighHigh · 2,187 students
- Canyon Crest AcademyHigh · 2,147 students
Nearby schools
- Emory Elementary0.3 mi · 399
- Teofilo Mendoza0.5 mi · 468
- Godfrey G. Berry Elementary0.5 mi · 273
- Central Elementary0.6 mi · 350
- Nestor Language Academy Charter0.8 mi · 1,079
- Oneonta Elementary0.9 mi · 434
Frequently asked questions
About Mar Vista AcademyHow large is Mar Vista Academy?
Mar Vista Academy enrolls approximately 462 students in grades 07-08.
Is Mar Vista Academy an elementary, middle, or high school?
Mar Vista Academy is a middle school covering grades 07-08.
How many students per teacher at Mar Vista Academy?
Approximately 18.0:1 students per teacher at Mar Vista Academy.
How diverse is Mar Vista Academy?
Mar Vista Academy reports a student body of 5% White, 81% Hispanic, 3% Black, 8% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is Mar Vista Academy in?
Mar Vista Academy is part of Sweetwater Union High.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.