Norris Middle

Set in Bakersfield, California, Norris Middle is a large middle school, part of Norris Elementary. It educates 992 students across grades 7 through 8. That puts it 51% larger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 659 students.

Within Norris Elementary, which oversees 5 schools and 4,153 students, Norris Middle is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Norris Middle logs that the largest single group is White at 44%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 42% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 5% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 25.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 20.7:1, putting Norris Middle higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 33% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Kern County runs at roughly 76%, so the school's eligibility rate is below the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Norris Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 59.6%, the actual is 47.0%, a residual of -12.6 points.

In the area at large, census data for Kern County shows median household earnings sit near $70,210, about 19% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 15%. Norris Middle is one of 279 public schools in Kern County (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students).

Nearest neighbor: William B. Bimat Elementary, around 1.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Norris Middle comes 5th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 49.5%.

Norris Middle operates from a residential location.

Over the past 7-year window. Norris Middle's enrollment has climbed 4% since 2018, when it stood at 956 (now 992). The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 31% to 42% over that span. Class-load math has fell: from 28.6:1 in 2018 to 25.2:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.