Thomas Jefferson Middle

Thomas Jefferson Middle is a middle school of average-sized scale in Wasco, California, part of Wasco Union Elementary, enrolling 591 students in grades 6 through 8.

Within Wasco Union Elementary, which oversees 6 schools and 3,473 students, Thomas Jefferson Middle is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Thomas Jefferson Middle logs that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (96%). Beyond that, the school logs 2% White. By comparison, Kern County as a whole is about 57% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Thomas Jefferson Middle reports 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 21.8:1. The state averages around 20.7:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 91% of students at Thomas Jefferson Middle qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Kern County (around 76%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Thomas Jefferson Middle tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 25.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 23.2%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Kern County put the typical household earns roughly $70,210 per year, 19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 15% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Thomas Jefferson Middle is one of 279 public schools in Kern County (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students).

Karl F. Clemens Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Thomas Jefferson Middle. On composite proficiency, Thomas Jefferson Middle comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 31.0%.

Thomas Jefferson Middle operates from a small-town location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Thomas Jefferson Middle has ticked down 22%, going from 757 students in 2018 to 591 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.