Shorecliffs Middle

Shorecliffs Middle, a reasonably sized middle-grades school in San Clemente, California, one of the schools within Capistrano Unified, instructs 634 students, covering grades 6 through 8.

Capistrano Unified runs 58 schools in total, collectively educating 40,251 students. Shorecliffs Middle is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Shorecliffs Middle reports that 58% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school shows 30% Hispanic, 10% multiracial. That is considerably more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 43%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.8:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 20.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 44% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Orange County runs at roughly 55%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Shorecliffs Middle sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 53.4%; this one delivers 46.8%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Orange County indicate median household earnings sit near $116,289, roughly 44% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Orange County's 649 public schools (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students), Shorecliffs Middle is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Marblehead Elementary, roughly 1.0 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Shorecliffs Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Shorecliffs Middle at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 58.7%.

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

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 30%: 906 students in 2018 compared to 634 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 65% to 58% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 25.4:1 in 2018 to 19.8:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for Shorecliffs Middle typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.