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Cesar Chavez Junior High · CeresPublic

Cesar Chavez Junior High: The state doesn't publish enough data to score this school fairly.

Cesar Chavez is a middle school in Ceres. The state doesn't publish enough data to score it fairly — so we won't. Here's what we can show.

No Scope Score available

California doesn't publicly report per-grade test results when fewer than 11 students are tested in a grade — a privacy protection for small schools. We can't compute a Scope Score without that data.

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits well below the middle of California middle schools in reading and math together. We show it; we don't score it.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −8 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 21st percentile of 7,519 reported schools.21st pctile · −8 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: −17 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 9th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.9th pctile · −17 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

With little published data, a visit does the heavy lifting: ask about class sizes, teacher tenure, and where last year's students went next.

  • Ask about typical class sizes and the student-teacher ratio.
  • Ask how long teachers have stayed at the school.
  • Ask where recent graduates or transfers went next.
  • Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom, and watch how a lesson actually runs.

How every group of students does here

At Cesar Chavez Junior High in Ceres, 38.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 36.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Cesar Chavez Junior High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 1.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (19.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (37.3% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 31.1 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 557 students tested.

All students at this school: 30% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 30%, district —, state 39%30%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 29%, district 29%, state 32%29% · −1 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 28%, district 29%, state 32%28% · −2 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 30%, district 32%, state 44%30% · +1 vs school
MaleMale: this school 29%, district 31%, state 42%29% · −1 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 5%, district 11%, state 11%5% · −25 vs school
AsianAsian: this school 46%, district 44%, state 72%46% · +16 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 7%, district 12%, state 15%7% · −23 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 35%, district 39%, state 56%35% · +6 vs school
HomelessHomeless: this school 0%, district 18%, state 22%0% · −30 vs school

5 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.

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 students517 studentsLow-income students, reading: −10 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 517 students.−10 pts · −7 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students472 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: −9 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 472 students.−9 pts · −7 vs typical
English Learner268 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: −9 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 268 students.−9 pts · −4 vs typical
English Only236 studentsEnglish Only, reading: −11 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 236 students.−11 pts · −11 vs typical
Long-term English learners161 studentsLong-term English learners, reading: −15 scale-score points versus expectation, against −7 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 161 students.−15 pts · −8 vs typical
Math
Low-income students514 studentsLow-income students, math: −18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 514 students.−18 pts · −13 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students468 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −19 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 468 students.−19 pts · −13 vs typical
English Learner266 studentsEnglish Learner, math: −19 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 266 students.−19 pts · −16 vs typical
English Only233 studentsEnglish Only, math: −21 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 233 students.−21 pts · −18 vs typical
Long-term English learners158 studentsLong-term English learners, math: −24 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 158 students.−24 pts · −18 vs typical
this school typical California middle school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 1 more group is 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. — Long-Term English Learners are counted in grades 6-8 only (CDE's own rule), so that row is not comparable to this school's all-students figure. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

Where the path goes

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

K-12 Feeder Path

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

Ceres HighScope 52direct feeder

The road from this school ends at Ceres High, which sent 27 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 15 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Ceres High around 2031, and 6 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 68% of Ceres High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.

27 UC ENROLLEES (FALL 2025) · 15 AP SUBJECTS TAUGHT full record on Ceres 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 22:1, district 24:122:1
Teaching staff32 teachers
Avg. experience13.1 years
Fully credentialed86%
First-year teachers6%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$69,779 – $139,451
Principal salary$159,081 – $177,439
Superintendent salary$309,149

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: $19,814, CA average $14,491$19,814 · spent at this school
Federal share$1,142 per student

$1,142 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$20,592 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
Instruction60%
Instruction support16%
Student services10%
Administration6%
Buildings & maintenance8%

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$14,347 per pupil
2019$12,588 per pupil
2018$12,822 per pupil
2017$11,492 per pupil
2016$11,268 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic79.7%
District 81.0% · CA 56.1%
Asian9.2%
District 5.7% · CA 10.2%
White7.3%
District 9.7% · CA 19.9%
Other2.2%
District 2.4% · CA 9.0%
Black1.6%
District 1.2% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 86.7% (23pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$81K · CA $85K
Median home value$430K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+13% · CA 35%
ZIP population46,310
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), 17% 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.

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.


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