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Alondra Middle · ParamountPublic

Alondra Middle: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.

Alondra posts 35% meeting the standard and 10.4% exceeding it, against 39% and 16.8% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.

16200 Downey Avenue, 90723 (opens in new tab)·Paramount Unified·Paramount·Grades 6-8·735 students·93% low-income·2024–25 CAASPP·(562) 602-8004
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope3338
% Exceeded10%17%
% Met+35%39%
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)Average · p54Average · p50
Absence25.5%18.5%
Suspension1.1%3.7%
Scope Score
33
🌱 Building Momentum · Developing
ranked #1,282 statewide · #5 of 5 in Paramount Unified

Alondra Middle scores 33 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 43rd percentile of 2,238 California middle schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →

🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.

Most rating sites would stop at “35% proficient” and call it done. Alondra deserves a closer read. The school sits in Paramount, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 2,238 middle schools statewide

Has stayed near the 43rd percentile since 2019.

ELAYellow(Increased)MathYellow(Increased)

Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 35% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 644%35%46%47%43%
Grade 739%34%34%48%50%
Grade 840%33%39%42%50%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 623%12%20%17%18%
Grade 724%17%16%22%24%
Grade 825%17%21%19%27%

The story this school is actually telling

The school, grade by grade

ELA · CAASPP 2024–25

Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.

12%
31%
57%
Grade 6 · 43% proficient
12%
38%
50%
Grade 7 · 50% proficient
12%
39%
49%
Grade 8 · 51% proficient

The honest read: the share exceeding holds steady across grades; the floor rises 7.9pp. The state average rises 0.1pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
10.4%
State 16.8%
6.4pp below state avg
Met or exceeded
35.4%
State 39.3%
3.9pp below state avg
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)
Average
State average
The same students gained 46 scale-score points across the span. Almost every school gains points, so we rank the gain against every other California school in this level.
Chronic absenteeism
25.5%
State 18.5%
6.9pp above state avg
Suspension rate
1.1%
State 3.7%
2.6pp below state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
12.9%
State 18.0%
5.0pp below state avg

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model, following individual children in grades 4 through 8 rather than comparing school-wide averages the way we do — and its two subjects part company here. It puts this school around the 84th percentile of California middle schools in reading and the 30th in math; ours, which blends the subjects, lands around the 54th. A gap that size between reading and math in one building is worth asking about directly — one year of data can't tell you whether it is the teaching, the cohort, or noise.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
Our growth measuresame cohort, G6→G8SchoolScope growth measure: 54th percentile among California middle schools.54th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +12 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 84th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.84th pctile · +12 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: −6 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 30th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.30th pctile · −6 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California middle school lands at −1 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −8 and +6 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

Worth a school visit

Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.

  • Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
  • Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
  • Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
  • Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
  • Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.

How every group of students does here

At Alondra Middle in Paramount, 47.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 42.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Alondra Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (23.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (47.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 37.3 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 671 students tested.

All students at this school: 35% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 35%, district —, state 39%35%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 36%, district 34%, state 32%36% · +0 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 35%, district 35%, state 32%35% · −0 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 36%, district 36%, state 44%36% · +1 vs school
MaleMale: this school 35%, district 32%, state 42%35% · −1 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 7%, district 10%, state 11%7% · −28 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 9%, district 10%, state 15%9% · −26 vs school
HomelessHomeless: this school 27%, district 23%, state 22%27% · −8 vs school
Black/African AmericanBlack/African American: this school 36%, district 23%, state 26%36% · +1 vs school

6 of 15 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
Subgroup growth by grade

Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 8.4pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +4.8pp.

The state's growth model, by student group

California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California middle school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.

Reading
Low-income students618 studentsLow-income students, reading: +11 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 618 students.+11 pts · +14 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students588 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: +12 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 588 students.+12 pts · +14 vs typical
English Only263 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +17 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 263 students.+17 pts · +17 vs typical
English Learner219 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: +4 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 219 students.+4 pts · +9 vs typical
Recently reclassified120 studentsRecently reclassified, reading: +16 scale-score points versus expectation, against +2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 120 students.+16 pts · +14 vs typical
Math
Low-income students614 studentsLow-income students, math: −6 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 614 students.−6 pts · −1 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students584 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −6 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 584 students.−6 pts · 0 vs typical
English Only261 studentsEnglish Only, math: −6 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 261 students.−6 pts · −3 vs typical
English Learner217 studentsEnglish Learner, math: −8 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 217 students.−8 pts · −5 vs typical
Recently reclassified118 studentsRecently reclassified, math: −5 scale-score points versus expectation, against −1 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 118 students.−5 pts · −4 vs typical
this school typical California middle school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 2 more groups are reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

Showing up, and staying in class

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 25.5%, district 24.3%, state 18.5%25.5% · +6.9pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 1.1%, district —, state 3.7%1.1% · −2.6pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–622.4%
Grades 7–826.9%

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path
Middle
Alondra Middle
33/100
This school
High School

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

Paramount HighScope 48estimated path

The road from this school ends at Paramount High, which sent 39 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 19 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Paramount High around 2031, and 6 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 48% of Paramount High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.

39 UC ENROLLEES (FALL 2025) · 19 AP SUBJECTS TAUGHT full record on Paramount High's page
Source: UC & College Board

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 18:1, district 20:118:1
Teaching staff41 teachers
Avg. experience18.3 years
Fully credentialed90%
First-year teachers2%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$73,292 – $138,335
Principal salary$188,208 – $204,698
Superintendent salary$316,000

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $24,465, CA average $14,491$24,465 · spent at this school
Federal share$142 per student

$142 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$26,268 per student

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction68%
Instruction support11%
Student services7%
Administration4%
Buildings & maintenance9%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$15,272 per pupil
2019$13,970 per pupil
2018$13,949 per pupil
2017$12,942 per pupil
2016$12,153 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic91.7%
District 88.5% · CA 56.1%
Black3.7%
District 7.5% · CA 4.8%
Other3.1%
District 2.2% · CA 9.0%
Asian0.8%
District 0.9% · CA 10.2%
White0.7%
District 0.9% · CA 19.9%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 92.5% (29pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$75K · CA $85K
Median home value$534K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+15% · CA 35%
ZIP population52,050
Median age33 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Worth Knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 28% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.

Frequently asked questions

Is Alondra Middle a good middle school?

Alondra Middle has a Scope Score of 33 out of 100, placing it in the 43rd percentile of California middle schools and ranked #1,282 statewide. 10.4% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 6.4 percentage points below the California average of 16.8%. The Scope Score weights 6 dimensions for middle schools: exceeded standard (42%), met or exceeded (proficient) (23%), grade 6-to-8 growth (20%), chronic absenteeism (5%), suspension rate (5%), and ELPAC English Learner proficiency (5%). Data source: California Department of Education CAASPP 2025, analyzed by SchoolScope.

What are Alondra Middle's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 35.4% of students at Alondra Middle met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 10.4% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 25.0% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 10.4% 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. 1,400 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Alondra Middle rank in California?

Alondra Middle ranks #1,282 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 43rd percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), same-cohort growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8), 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 Alondra Middle getting better or worse?

SchoolScope follows the same cohort of students across grades rather than comparing two different grades in the same year. At Alondra Middle that cohort is 2023 G6 → 2025 G8, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks average among California middle schools — roughly the 54th percentile, ahead of the typical school at this level. Read the ranking, not the raw point gain: scale scores rise with age, so nearly every school posts a positive number and only the relative position tells you anything. Growth is weighted at 20% in the middle Scope Score because it is the least demographically confounded signal available — it tracks change over time rather than the level students arrived at. See full methodology.

What is the attendance and school culture like at Alondra Middle?

25.5% of students at Alondra Middle are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 18.5%. The suspension rate is 1.1%, indicating a low-discipline-incident environment. 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 Alondra Middle compare to other schools in Paramount?

Alondra Middle scores 33/100 (43rd 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 735 students. Use the schools in Paramount page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.

How does Alondra Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Alondra Middle in Paramount, 47.7% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 42.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Alondra Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (23.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (47.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 37.3 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 671 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.

Your other options

Private alternatives nearby

Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.


For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and nearest schools.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Exceeded standard · 42%
10.4%
↓ vs CA 16.8% · 43th pctile
Met or exceeded · 23%
35.4%
↓ vs CA 39.3% · 47th pctile
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8) · 20%
Average
↑ vs CA average · 54th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
25.5%
↓ vs CA 18.5% · 40th pctile
▲ 4.7pp higher vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
1.1%
↑ vs CA 3.7% · 60th pctile
▼ 2.5pp lower vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
12.9%
↓ vs CA 18.0% · 39th pctile
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 620912%31%29%29%43%−4
Grade 725612%38%25%25%50%+2
Grade 823012%39%30%20%50%+4
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 62115%13%33%49%18%−16
Grade 726011%13%28%47%24%−10
Grade 823411%16%22%51%27%−5

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, no valid result was published, or the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide2357%21%58%14%

CAST is tested in grades 5 and 8, then once in grade 10, 11, or 12. This row is the school's all-student aggregate. Not part of the Scope Score.

Subgroup · ELATestedMET+vs districtvs CA
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged67147.7%+5+9
Hispanic/Latino64047.7%+3+9
English Learners15212.5%+0+2
03Nearest middle schoolssorted by Scope Score · Grade gap = grade 3 vs grade 5, this year, different students; Cohort growth = the same students tracked across grades, in scale-score points — that's the measurement the Scope Score weights
SchoolDistScopeEXCMET+Grade gapCohort growthSusp
Alondra Middle ←3310.4%35.4%+8.4pp+46 pts1.1%
Whaley Middle2.4 mi5320.1%46.9%−4.9pp0.5%
Frank J. Zamboni1.5 mi3611.5%33.6%+2.3pp3.3%
Paramount Park Middle1.1 mi369.6%32.8%+11.3pp4.1%
California average3816.8%39.3%+1.5pp3.7%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20193038#12477.9%32.6%4.0%1.3%-1.1pp
20222227#15785.3%24.7%29.9%4.7%+2.0pp
20232537#13787.0%29.2%20.1%7.1%-3.2pp
20243347#11777.7%32.4%20.8%3.5%-1.7pp
20253343#128210.4%35.4%25.5%1.1%+8.4pp
Grade gap = this year's grade 3 vs grade 5 result, two different sets of students, not a trend for any one child — it is not the measurement the Scope Score's growth dimension uses. See §01 above and /methodology#verdicts for the school's actual scored (cohort) growth.
NO STATEWIDE TESTING 2020–21 (COVID) · SCORE AND PERCENTILE ARE RELATIVE TO EACH YEAR'S FIELD
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
Group20192025Δ
Female3.8%23.2%+19.4pp
Male4.0%28.0%+24.0pp
Asian0.0%
Black/African American14.0%28.1%+14.1pp
Hispanic/Latino3.3%25.4%+22.1pp
Pacific Islander0.0%
Students with Disabilities6.9%27.7%+20.8pp
English Learners5.7%24.9%+19.2pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged3.9%25.9%+22.0pp
All Students3.9%25.6%+21.7pp
Homeless27.5%
11California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+12635Accelerated−6631Moderate
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+11618Accelerated−6614Moderate
Hispanic or Latino+12588Accelerated−6584Moderate
English Only+17263not categorised−6261not categorised
English Learner+4219Average−8217Moderate
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only+16120not categorised−5118not categorised
English Learners Only−699not categorised−1199not categorised
Long-Term English Learner (grades 6-8 only)+380Average−980Moderate
Students with Disabilities+260Average−660Moderate
Homeless Youth+326Average−1526Moderate
Black or African American+1720Accelerated−2020Moderate

Whole scale-score points above or below what CDE's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores — not a percentage, not a percentile. Statewide a typical school lands near +1 with a spread of about 13 points either side, so read a figure against its group's own typical value, not against zero. Muted rows have fewer than 30 students with a growth score — published by CDE, held back from the narrative sections above because at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own. “Not categorised” is CDE assigning no band — English Only, Recently Reclassified, and English Learners Only receive a value and no band, for every school in the state. It is not a missing number. Long-Term English Learner counts cover grades 6-8 only (CDE), so that row is not comparable to the All Students row. Most figures blend two consecutive years, so adjacent published years share input data and no trend line can honestly be drawn across them. A group absent from this table had fewer than 11 students with a growth score and was never published. Grades 4-8 only. None of this enters the Scope Score — it is more strongly correlated with school demographics than our own growth measure, and one published year is not enough to test its reliability.

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EXC = exceeded standard · MET+ = met or exceeded ("proficient") · Source: CA Dept. of Education · CAASPP 2024–25 · n=2,238 middle schools · Vintages: climate subgroups 2019+2025 · district finance per its label · ACS 2022 · Data updated 2026-07-03methodology · data updates · CSV · report issue

SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction