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Amargosa Creek Middle · LancasterPublic

Amargosa Creek Middle: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.

Amargosa Creek posts low test scores — and grade 8 tests above grade 6 here this year, by 6.2pp. If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.

44333 27th Street, West, 93536 (opens in new tab)·Lancaster Elementary·Lancaster·Grades 6-8·859 students·86% low-income·2024–25 CAASPP·(661) 729-6064·Website
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope2138
% Exceeded5%17%
% Met+20%39%
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)Average · p49Average · p50
Absence33.2%18.5%
Suspension11.2%3.7%
Scope Score
21
🌱 Building Momentum · Needs Support
ranked #1,870 statewide · #4 of 9 in Lancaster Elementary

Amargosa Creek Middle scores 21 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 16th 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.

CDE CAASPP 2025

Most rating sites would stop at “20% proficient” and call it done. Amargosa Creek deserves a closer read. The school sits in Lancaster, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

Test scores are one lens, and at this school they're a rough one right now. The sections below show the fuller picture — including the parts that are working.

The seven-year arc

Percentile among 2,238 middle schools statewide

Has stayed near the 16th percentile since 2019.

CA Dashboard
ELAYellow(Increased)MathOrange(Increased)

This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 20% meet the standard today, versus 29% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 632%24%18%20%21%
Grade 739%37%30%29%37%
Grade 842%42%33%30%30%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 615%7%8%7%6%
Grade 728%18%13%15%18%
Grade 821%11%12%10%9%

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.

18%
80%
Grade 6 · 20% proficient
29%
64%
Grade 7 · 36% proficient
9%
21%
70%
Grade 8 · 30% proficient

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
4.9%
State 16.8%
11.9pp below state avg
Met or exceeded
20.1%
State 39.3%
19.2pp below state avg
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)
Average
State average
The same students gained 45 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
33.2%
State 18.5%
14.7pp above state avg
Suspension rate
11.2%
State 3.7%
7.5pp above state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
20.0%
State 18.0%
2.0pp above 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 57th percentile of California middle schools in reading and the 6th in math; ours, which blends the subjects, lands around the 49th. 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: 49th percentile among California middle schools.49th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +3 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 57th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.57th pctile · +3 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: −19 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 6th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.6th pctile · −19 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 changed in the last two years, and what the school is asking families for. Growth shows up in these numbers a year or two after it shows up in classrooms.

  • Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
  • Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
  • 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 Amargosa Creek Middle in Lancaster, 26.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 22.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Amargosa Creek Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (9.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (32.3% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 26.5 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 752 students tested.

All students at this school: 21% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 21%, district —, state 39%21%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 18%, district 18%, state 32%18% · −2 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 22%, district 21%, state 32%22% · +1 vs school
MaleMale: this school 19%, district 19%, state 42%19% · −1 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 22%, district 20%, state 44%22% · +2 vs school
Black/African AmericanBlack/African American: this school 12%, district 11%, state 26%12% · −8 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 3%, district 6%, state 15%3% · −17 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 27%, district 29%, state 56%27% · +6 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 2%, district 4%, state 11%2% · −18 vs school
HomelessHomeless: this school 16%, district 14%, state 22%16% · −5 vs school
Military-ConnectedMilitary-Connected: this school 26%, district 33%, state 46%26% · +5 vs school
Two or More RacesTwo or More Races: this school 29%, district 25%, state 56%29% · +8 vs school

5 of 17 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 8.7pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +2.0pp.

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 students656 studentsLow-income students, reading: +1 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 656 students.+1 pts · +4 vs typical
English Only588 studentsEnglish Only, reading: +2 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 588 students.+2 pts · +2 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students431 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: +4 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 431 students.+4 pts · +6 vs typical
Black students186 studentsBlack students, reading: −5 scale-score points versus expectation, against −4 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 186 students.−5 pts · −1 vs typical
Students with disabilities119 studentsStudents with disabilities, reading: −14 scale-score points versus expectation, against −13 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 119 students.−14 pts · −1 vs typical
Math
Low-income students653 studentsLow-income students, math: −19 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 653 students.−19 pts · −14 vs typical
English Only586 studentsEnglish Only, math: −21 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 586 students.−21 pts · −18 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students430 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −19 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 430 students.−19 pts · −13 vs typical
Black students184 studentsBlack students, math: −24 scale-score points versus expectation, against −8 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 184 students.−24 pts · −16 vs typical
Students with disabilities119 studentsStudents with disabilities, math: −24 scale-score points versus expectation, against −8 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 119 students.−24 pts · −16 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 33.2%, district 30.7%, state 18.5%33.2% · +14.7pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 11.2%, district —, state 3.7%11.2% · +7.5pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–638.2%
Grades 7–831.9%

Where the path goes

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

K-12 Feeder Path
▼
Middle
Amargosa Creek Middle
21/100
This school
▼
High School
No feeder data available for this level

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 19:1, district 24:119:1
Teaching staff50 teachers
Avg. experience14.2 years
Fully credentialed88%
First-year teachers10%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$58,890 – $129,672
Principal salaryFrom $149,973
Superintendent salary$278,750

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: $24,887, CA average $14,491$24,887 · spent at this school
Federal share$422 per student

$422 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$23,225 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
Instruction65%
Instruction support9%
Student services11%
Administration5%
Buildings & maintenance10%

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$14,005 per pupil
2019$12,628 per pupil
2018$12,465 per pupil
2017$11,123 per pupil
2016$11,001 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic56.5%
District 59.1% · CA 56.1%
Black25.5%
District 26.5% · CA 4.8%
White9.2%
District 7.2% · CA 19.9%
Other7.7%
District 6.4% · CA 9.0%
Asian1.2%
District 0.8% · CA 10.2%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 85.9% (22pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$107K · CA $85K
Median home value$534K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+26% · CA 35%
ZIP population73,412
Median age37 years

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

Worth Knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 16% 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 Amargosa Creek Middle a good middle school?

Amargosa Creek Middle has a Scope Score of 21 out of 100, placing it in the 16th percentile of California middle schools and ranked #1,870 statewide. 4.9% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 11.9 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 Amargosa Creek Middle's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 20.1% of students at Amargosa Creek Middle met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 4.9% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 15.2% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 4.9% 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. 1,736 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Amargosa Creek Middle rank in California?

Amargosa Creek Middle ranks #1,870 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 16th 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 Amargosa Creek 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 Amargosa Creek Middle that cohort is 2023 G6 → 2025 G8, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks average among California middle schools — roughly the 49th percentile, behind 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 Amargosa Creek Middle?

33.2% of students at Amargosa Creek Middle are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 18.5%. The suspension rate is 11.2%. 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 Amargosa Creek Middle compare to other schools in Lancaster?

Amargosa Creek Middle scores 21/100 (16th 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 859 students. Use the schools in Lancaster page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.

How does Amargosa Creek Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Amargosa Creek Middle in Lancaster, 26.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 22.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Amargosa Creek Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (9.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (32.3% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 26.5 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 752 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

All schools in Lancaster →

Private alternatives nearby

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

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

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%
4.9%
↓ vs CA 16.8% · 37th pctile
Met or exceeded · 23%
20.1%
↓ vs CA 39.3% · 34th pctile
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8) · 20%
Average
↓ vs CA average · 49th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
33.2%
↓ vs CA 18.5% · 29th pctile
▼ 6.4pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
11.2%
↓ vs CA 3.7% · 20th pctile
▼ 5.8pp lower vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
20.0%
↑ vs CA 18.0% · 48th pctile
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 62192%18%27%52%21%−26
Grade 72977%29%21%42%37%−11
Grade 83539%21%26%44%30%−16
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 62181%6%19%74%6%−28
Grade 72955%13%26%57%18%−16
Grade 83545%4%15%76%9%−23

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
Schoolwide3554%12%62%22%

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 Disadvantaged75226.9%+4−11
Hispanic/Latino48332.3%+5−7
Black/African American22718.5%+4−14
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
Amargosa Creek Middle ←—214.9%20.1%+6.2pp+45 pts11.2%
Endeavour Middle1.9 mi121.8%11.6%−0.6pp—10.6%
RISE2.1 mi50.0%0.0%——19.2%
California average—3816.8%39.3%+1.5pp—3.7%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20192424#15327.6%29.4%19.0%6.9%+8.0pp
20221917#17986.8%23.2%47.7%12.8%+10.6pp
2023148#20005.0%18.9%39.9%16.3%+9.3pp
2024166#20904.9%18.6%39.7%17.0%+6.1pp
20252116#18704.9%20.1%33.2%11.2%+6.2pp
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
What we can't show
  • — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 11 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
Group20192025Δ
Female18.0%36.2%+18.2pp
Male20.2%31.1%+10.9pp
Asian0.0%8.3%+8.3pp
Black/African American26.9%46.2%+19.3pp
White6.7%5.9%-0.8pp
Hispanic/Latino15.9%27.3%+11.4pp
Two or More Races21.1%42.6%+21.5pp
Students with Disabilities25.0%39.8%+14.8pp
English Learners10.5%26.7%+16.2pp
Foster Youth32.4%46.2%+13.8pp
Homeless36.9%46.2%+9.3pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged20.0%36.3%+16.3pp
All Students19.1%33.5%+14.4pp
11California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+3753Average−19750Moderate
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+1656Average−19653Moderate
English Only+2588not categorised−21586not categorised
Hispanic or Latino+4431Average−19430Moderate
Black or African American−5186Average−24184Minimal
Students with Disabilities−14119Moderate−24119Minimal
English Learner−1102Average−8102Moderate
White+171Average−1271Moderate
English Learners Only−1552not categorised−952not categorised
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only+950not categorised−950not categorised
Homeless Youth−649Moderate−1448Moderate
Long-Term English Learner (grades 6-8 only)−448Average−1248Moderate
Two or More Races+236Average−1836Moderate
Filipino+2613Exceptional+1213Accelerated
Foster Youth−313Average−1713Moderate

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

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