Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate

Located at 21931 Alma Aldea, in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate is a large middle-grades school that hosts 1,153 students (grades 7 through 8), overseen by Saddleback Valley Unified. Enrollment runs roughly 75% larger than the state mean of about 659.

Across the 33 schools in Saddleback Valley Unified (22,646 students total), Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate lists that the largest single group is White at 46%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest looks like 26% Hispanic, 16% Asian, 11% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 24.1:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 20.7:1 average. An estimated 29% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Orange County (around 55%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 62.1%, the actual is 62.5%, a residual of +0.4 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Orange County put median household income runs about $116,289, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate is one of 649 public schools in Orange County (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students).

Nearest neighbor: Cielo Vista Elementary, around 0.3 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate at 5th of 9; the average score across the group is 62.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate's enrollment has edged down 12% since 2018, when it stood at 1,312 (now 1,153). Over the same period, the White share declined from 54% to 46%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 26.1:1 in 2018 to 24.1:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.