Ranchero Middle

Set in Hesperia, California, Ranchero Middle is a sizable junior high, operated by Hesperia Unified. It enrolls 1,140 students across grades 7 through 8. By comparison, California's public schools average about 659 students each, so Ranchero Middle sits 73% larger than that benchmark.

Hesperia Unified comprises 25 schools with combined enrollment of 23,188 students; Ranchero Middle is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Ranchero Middle reports that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 73% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school lists 19% White, 6% Black. The wider county runs roughly 55% Hispanic, putting the school's mix noticeably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 52 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 22.1:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 20.7:1 average. An estimated 81% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

With demographic context factored in, Ranchero Middle falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 31.5%; this one comes in at 12.4%, -19.1 points off the demographic line.

In the surrounding community, San Bernardino County reports that median household earnings sit near $85,478, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across San Bernardino County's 583 public schools (combined enrollment of about 393,648 students), Ranchero Middle is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Kingston Elementary, around 0.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Ranchero Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Ranchero Middle at 8th of 8; the average score across the group is 24.1%.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Over the past 7-year window. Ranchero Middle's enrollment has rose 7% since 2018, when it stood at 1,069 (now 1,140). Over the same period, the Hispanic share ticked up from 61% to 73%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 23.8:1 in 2018 to 22.1:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Ranchero Middle community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.