Benicia Middle: The score is strong. The trajectory is stronger.
Benicia pairs 51% proficiency with gains that hold up when the same students are tracked two years apart — the rare school that posts both.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 57 | 22% | 51% | +5.7 | 12.2% | 2.8% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Benicia Middle scores 57 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 83rd 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “51% proficient” and call it done. Benicia deserves a closer read. It sits at the 83rd percentile of 2,238 California middle schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
The headline number: 40.0% of English learners reached the top ELPAC level, versus 18.0% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 74th to the 83rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 100 middle schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 51% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 52% | 41% | 36% | 46% | 46% |
| Grade 7 | 56% | 46% | 40% | 48% | 53% |
| Grade 8 | 57% | 44% | 39% | 45% | 48% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 44% | 37% | 37% | 46% | 46% |
| Grade 7 | 54% | 46% | 46% | 52% | 55% |
| Grade 8 | 53% | 38% | 28% | 47% | 56% |
The story this school is actually telling
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The honest read: the share exceeding holds steady across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find 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 Benicia Middle in Benicia, 28.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 37.2% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Benicia Middle trails its district average for low-income students by 9.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (27.3% Math proficient); White students (51.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 38.1 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 234 students tested.
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 1.6pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +1.6pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The road from this school ends at Benicia High, which sent 37 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 20 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Benicia High around 2031, and 6 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 75% of Benicia High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.
The people teaching here
What gets spent here
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
On the state's science test (CAST), 38% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Benicia Middle a good middle school?
What are Benicia Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Benicia Middle rank in California?
Is Benicia Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Benicia Middle?
How does Benicia Middle compare to other schools in Benicia?
How does Benicia Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 60
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 324 | 14% | 32% | 28% | 26% | 46% | −0 |
| Grade 7 | 298 | 18% | 35% | 28% | 20% | 53% | +5 |
| Grade 8 | 316 | 14% | 34% | 31% | 22% | 48% | +2 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 322 | 22% | 24% | 30% | 24% | 46% | +11 |
| Grade 7 | 298 | 31% | 25% | 25% | 20% | 55% | +21 |
| Grade 8 | 317 | 31% | 24% | 26% | 19% | 56% | +23 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 317 | 12% | 26% | 55% | 7% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 234 | 28.2% | −9 | −10 |
| White | 389 | 51.4% | −6 | −10 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 238 | 41.2% | −7 | +2 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benicia Middle ← | — | 57 | 21.7% | 50.5% | +5.7 | 2.8% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 50 | 74 | #521 | 22.1% | 52.6% | 5.3% | 3.8% | +6.6pp |
| 2022 | 41 | 59 | #893 | 13.6% | 42.0% | 18.5% | 4.4% | +2.1pp |
| 2023 | 41 | 51 | #1061 | 12.8% | 37.8% | 18.7% | 7.0% | -3.6pp |
| 2024 | 47 | 70 | #659 | 18.4% | 47.2% | 14.2% | 2.8% | -0.1pp |
| 2025 | 57 | 83 | #385 | 21.7% | 50.5% | 12.2% | 2.8% | +5.7pp |
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 10 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 4.3% | 13.2% | +8.9pp |
| Male | 6.2% | 11.0% | +4.8pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 4.3% | +4.3pp |
| Black/African American | 4.2% | 14.6% | +10.4pp |
| Filipino | 0.0% | — | — |
| White | 1.3% | 3.1% | +1.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.5% | 15.6% | +10.1pp |
| Two or More Races | 6.1% | 9.8% | +3.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 16.5% | 22.1% | +5.6pp |
| English Learners | 7.8% | 3.8% | -4.0pp |
| Homeless | 10.0% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 9.8% | 22.3% | +12.5pp |
| All Students | 5.3% | 12.1% | +6.8pp |
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