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Matt Garcia Career and College Academy

Grades 6-8Alternative School2024–25 data
Fairfield-Suisun UnifiedFairfield, Solano County94533
📍 1100 Harry Price Drive📞 (707) 424-9400🌐 Website
Alternative school — serves students who benefit from a non-traditional educational setting. Scores are not directly comparable to comprehensive schools.
Needs Support
23/100
Needs Support — 14th percentile statewide
#1,467 of 1,714 CA middle schools
🌱 Building Momentum

Every school has strengths the data doesn’t fully capture. Visit and see for yourself. Both outcomes and funding trail the state average

School Climate
74% of students attend consistently
Chronic absenteeism: 26.5% (state avg: 19.1%)
"Attend consistently" means missing ≤10% of school days (the chronic absenteeism threshold).
High suspension rate
8.5% suspension rate (state avg: 4.2%)
Share of students who received at least one suspension during the year.
Source: California Dept. of Education, 2024–25See breakdown by student group →

What the numbers actually mean

Most rating sites report "20% proficient" and stop there. We think that number deserves more context — here's what we found when we looked deeper:

3.6% of students exceeded standard? Level 4 on California's CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment — the state defines four levels: Not Met, Nearly Met, Met, and Exceeded. while 16.6% met it. That exceeded rate is 13.8 points below the state average of 17.3%. That's 9.3 points below the Fairfield-Suisun Unified district average of 12.8%. The gap between "met" and "exceeded" can reveal how much a school's curriculum challenges students beyond proficiency.

CDE CAASPP 2025
Matt Garcia Career and College Academy
17%
California average
17%
22%
ExceededMet onlyBelow

Students here improve by 2.0 percentage points from Grade 6 to grade 8 growth? Cross-sectional comparison (this year's 5th graders vs this year's 3rd graders), not longitudinal cohort tracking. Historical data for cohort tracking is not available for this school., suggesting the school is adding value beyond what students arrive with.

SchoolScope derived · Cross-sectional proficiency change across grades, not longitudinal cohort tracking

California's Dashboard shows ELA performance declined significantly and Math declined significantly year-over-year.

Chronic absenteeism? Missing 10%+ of enrolled school days. This is an official California Dashboard accountability indicator. is 26.5%, above the state average of 19.1%.

CDE Attendance 2025

Data you won't find on other sites: Current-year 2025 data direct from CDE · The exceeded vs. met split that most rating sites collapse into one number

Why the exceeded vs. met split matters → · Scope Score is SchoolScope's analysis of CDE data — not an official CDE rating. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

No single score captures a school. This is a starting point — visit, ask questions, trust your instincts.

▸ What this score doesn't capture
  • — Teaching quality, classroom culture, and how teachers connect with students
  • — Arts, athletics, extracurriculars, and enrichment programs
  • — How well the school serves students with IEPs or gifted learners
  • — Parent community engagement and satisfaction
  • — Whether the curriculum aligns with your family's values

Most of our data is updated once per year and may reflect the prior school year.

Before you visit
Questions worth asking and signals worth checking
What to verify
⚠Chronic absenteeism at 26.5% — 7.4 points above state average. High absenteeism often reflects community stress or disengagement, not just individual behavior.
⚠Suspension rate (8.5%) is well above average. This can signal discipline culture worth evaluating in person — a campus visit matters here.
Who this school is great for
✓Families who value a smaller school community — 201 students
△Worth checking: Families wanting top-end academic rigor — more students meet the bar (17%) than exceed it (4%); Families sensitive to attendance culture — absenteeism is 7.4pp above state average
These reflect data patterns, not guarantees. Your child's experience will depend on their teacher, grade, and classroom — things no score captures.
Score Factors
Academic Performance
✓Growth (G6→G8): +2.0pp
Scores improve across grades (state avg +0.8pp)
15% weight

Growth measures what the school adds, not what families bring. When available, we track the same cohort across years for a stronger signal.

Limitation: Cohort tracking is school-level (not individual students) — transfers and demographic shifts can affect results. Falls back to cross-sectional comparison when historical data is unavailable.

SchoolScope derived
Holding back
▼Exceeded standard: 3.6%
13.8pp below state avg (state avg 17.3%)
43% weight

Exceeded rate gets the highest weight because it separates schools that clear the bar from those that raise it.

Limitation: Reflects tested students only — opt-out rates are not published by CDE.

CDE CAASPP 2025
▼Met or exceeded: 20.1%
19.4pp below state avg (state avg 39.5%)
22% weight

Overall proficiency provides the broadest measure of academic achievement.

Limitation: Combines ‘met’ and ‘exceeded’ — the gap between them matters more than either alone.

CDE CAASPP 2025
School Climate
Holding back
▼Chronic absenteeism: 26.5%
7.4pp above state avg (state avg 19.1%)
10% weight

Absenteeism reflects school culture and family engagement — an official CA Dashboard accountability indicator.

Limitation: 10% threshold is the same for all schools regardless of demographics or geography.

CDE Attendance 2025
▼Suspension rate: 8.5%
4.3pp above state avg (state avg 4.2%)
5% weight

Low suspension rates correlate with positive school culture and restorative practices.

Limitation: Schools may differ in reporting practices — some underreport to improve metrics.

CDE Discipline 2025
We make judgment calls about what matters. We believe exceeded scores reveal more than proficiency alone, and that growth matters more than raw test results. Reasonable people could weight these differently — and that's fine. The factors above show exactly what we weighted and why, so you can decide where you agree and where you'd adjust. The middle school Scope Score uses 5 dimensions. How we built this score (and what it misses) →

The Scope Score emphasizes academic performance. It weights test proficiency, the exceeded-vs-met gap, and growth trajectory most heavily. If your family prioritizes arts, athletics, school culture, or teaching philosophy, this score captures some of that indirectly (through absenteeism and suspension) but not all of it. Different families should weight these dimensions differently — the score factors above let you see exactly what drives this number.

How to use this
  • –Use for long-term academic patterns, not this week's classroom experience
  • –Verify with a recent visit — scores can't capture a school mid-transformation
  • –Combine with local context — talk to parents, attend a school board meeting, trust your gut
Community Profile
Context — not part of the Scope Score
Resources & Access
Enrollment
201
659 below CA avg (~860)
Free/Reduced Lunch
74%
10pp above CA avg (64%)
Student-Teacher Ratio
22:1
1 more students per teacher than CA avg
Per-Pupil Spending
$11,661
CA avg: $14,815 · District avg · NCES F-33
Teacher Salary Range
$64,302 – $114,523
District schedule · CA median ~$98K
At Matt Garcia Career and College Academy in Fairfield, 31.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 30.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Matt Garcia Career and College Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 1.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (7.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (31.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 15.4 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 166 students tested.
Equity Gaps
Absenteeism · Disabilities+10.5pp
37.0% vs 26.5% overall · n=27
ELA · English Learner−15.4pp
15.8% vs 31.2% overall · n=19
2 more gaps by subject
ELA Exceeded · English Learner−4.5pp
0.0% vs 4.5% overall · n=19
Math · English Learner−3.8pp
5.3% vs 9.1% overall · n=19

Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.

Subgroup Proficiency
Low-Income166 tested
ELA 31.9%·Math 7.2%· +1.1pp vs district
Hispanic151 tested
ELA 31.1%·Math 8.6%· -0.2pp vs district
English Learner31 tested
ELA 9.7%·Math 3.2%· +2.7pp vs district

Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.

Subgroup Growth by Grade
Change in proficiency from lowest tested grade. Shows which groups are gaining ground.

Low-income student ELA proficiency falls by 3.1pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +2.4pp.

Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

Funding Breakdown
Instruction 59%Support 37%Other 3%

Source: NCES F-33 (2019–2020) · Full district breakdown →

Neighborhood Context
Median Income
$85K
$93 below CA median
Median Home Value
$463K
$197K below CA median
Bachelor's+
21%
14pp below CA avg
Whole Child
Teacher experience, college/career readiness, and more. Context only — never part of the Scope Score.
Teacher Experience
7.3 years avg experience
9 teachers · 11% first-year

Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25

Community Profile provides context about who attends this school and the resources available. These factors are never part of the Scope Score. Learn why →

How Matt Garcia Career and College Academy compares

Matt Garcia Career and College Academy vs. California averages — 2025 CAASPP data
MetricThis schoolCA avg
Exceeded Standard3.6%17.3%
Met or Exceeded20.1%39.5%
Chronic Absenteeism26.5%19.1%
Suspension Rate8.5%4.2%
Growth (G6→G8)+2.0pp+0.8pp

Source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025 · Analyzed by SchoolScope

Grade trajectory

How proficiency compares across grade levels this year (different students, same test year)

ELA Trajectory
30.9%31.3%G6G7G8
Math Trajectory
8.8%12.5%G6G7G8

ELA scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
6th685.9%25.0%30.9%38.2%30.9%
7th671.5%29.9%35.8%32.8%31.3%
8th646.3%25.0%37.5%31.3%31.3%

Math scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
6th681.5%7.3%27.9%63.2%8.8%
7th670.0%6.0%29.9%64.2%6.0%
8th646.3%6.3%18.8%68.8%12.5%

Science scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
8th651.5%10.8%67.7%20.0%12.3%

65 students tested · CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually like ELA/Math. Not included in the Scope Score. · Data source: CDE CAST 2025

K-12 Feeder Path
▼
Middle
Matt Garcia Career and College…
23/100
This school
▼
High School

Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.

Schools nearby

A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means

Frequently asked questions

Is Matt Garcia Career and College Academy a good middle school?
Matt Garcia Career and College Academy has a Scope Score of 23 out of 100, placing it in the 14th percentile of California middle schools and ranked #1,467 statewide. 3.6% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 13.8 percentage points below the California average of 17.3%. The Scope Score weights five dimensions: the exceeded-vs-met split (45%), proficiency (25%), grade-level growth (15%), chronic absenteeism (10%), and suspension rate (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.
What are Matt Garcia Career and College Academy's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 20.1% of students at Matt Garcia Career and College Academy met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 3.6% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 16.6% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 3.6% pushed past it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it reveals whether a school's curriculum challenges students beyond minimum proficiency or paces toward it. 398 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Matt Garcia Career and College Academy rank in California?
Matt Garcia Career and College Academy ranks #1,467 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 14th percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), grade-level growth (Grade 6 to grade 8 growth), chronic absenteeism, and suspension rate. Unlike single-number ratings, the Scope Score shows what drives the ranking so parents can decide what matters most to their family. See full methodology.
Is Matt Garcia Career and College Academy getting better or worse?
Based on 2025 CAASPP data, proficiency at Matt Garcia Career and College Academy increases by 2.0 percentage points from Grade 6 to grade 8 growth. This upward trajectory suggests the school is adding measurable value — students leave with higher proficiency rates than they entered with. Growth trajectory is weighted at 15% in the middle Scope Score because it measures what the school does, not just who walks in the door.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Matt Garcia Career and College Academy?
26.5% of students at Matt Garcia Career and College Academy are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 19.1%. The suspension rate is 8.5%. SchoolScope includes these culture metrics in the Scope Score because they reflect day-to-day school experience in ways test scores alone cannot.
How does Matt Garcia Career and College Academy compare to other schools in Fairfield?
Matt Garcia Career and College Academy scores 23/100 (14th percentile) among California middle schools. To compare with nearby schools, SchoolScope shows the same metrics side by side: exceeded rate, proficiency, growth trajectory, and school culture indicators. The school serves 201 students. Use the schools in Fairfield page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.
How does Matt Garcia Career and College Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Matt Garcia Career and College Academy in Fairfield, 31.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 30.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Matt Garcia Career and College Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 1.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (7.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (31.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 15.4 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 166 students tested. SchoolScope shows disaggregated test scores by demographic subgroup so you can see how a school performs for your child's specific group — not just the school-wide average. Subgroup data is context, not part of the Scope Score: we don't penalize schools for who they serve. See our equity approach.
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Data source: California Department of Education (2025 test year) · How we score · Explore all schools · Blog