CIS Academy: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
CIS Academy posts low test scores — and suspensions run below the state rate (1.0% vs 3.7%). If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 16 | 13% | 31% | -59.8 | 54.3% | 1.0% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
CIS Academy scores 16 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 2nd 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 “31% proficient” and call it done. CIS Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Pasadena, where two-thirds of 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
Slipped from the 79th to the 2nd percentile since 2022.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | — | 30% | 67% | — | — |
| Grade 5 | — | 44% | 28% | — | — |
| Grade 6 | — | 21% | — | — | 73% |
| Grade 7 | — | 43% | 38% | — | 24% |
| Grade 8 | — | 55% | — | 35% | 13% |
| Grade 11 | 22% | 44% | 52% | 52% | 60% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | — | 19% | 53% | — | — |
| Grade 5 | — | 38% | 11% | — | — |
| Grade 7 | — | 25% | 15% | 36% | 31% |
| Grade 8 | — | 45% | — | 31% | 13% |
| Grade 11 | 3% | 24% | 25% | 17% | 46% |
The 5 things our score weighs
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 changes between grade 6 and grade 8 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 CIS Academy in Pasadena, 30.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. CIS Academy trails its district average for low-income students by 4.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (29.6% Math proficient); Hispanic students (48.6% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 49 students tested.
7 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
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.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 9–12 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (80.3% vs 30.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
CIS Academy serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$403 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
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
At 234 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California middle school (≈860).
On the state's science test (CAST), 27% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is CIS Academy a good middle school?
What are CIS Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does CIS Academy rank in California?
Is CIS Academy getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at CIS Academy?
How does CIS Academy compare to other schools in Pasadena?
How does CIS Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 67
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 80
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 68
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
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 4 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 5 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 6 | 11 | 27% | 45% | 18% | 9% | 73% | +26 |
| Grade 7 | 17 | 0% | 24% | 41% | 35% | 24% | −24 |
| Grade 8 | 16 | 6% | 6% | 25% | 63% | 13% | −34 |
| Grade 11 | 30 | 30% | 30% | 10% | 30% | 60% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 4 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 5 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 6 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 7 | 16 | 19% | 13% | 31% | 38% | 31% | −3 |
| Grade 8 | 15 | 13% | 0% | 7% | 80% | 13% | −19 |
| Grade 11 | 24 | 29% | 17% | 21% | 33% | 46% | +22 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 74 | 15% | 12% | 62% | 11% |
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 | 49 | 30.6% | −5 | −8 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 35 | 48.6% | +12 | +10 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIS Academy ← | — | 16 | 13.1% | 30.7% | −59.8 | 1.0% |
| Huntington Middle | 2.6 mi | 80 | 61.8% | 84.4% | −5.6 | 0.9% |
| Sierra Madre Middle | 2.6 mi | 67 | 37.8% | 63.9% | +0.6 | 0.6% |
| Jefferson Middle | 2.6 mi | 55 | 28.2% | 54.0% | +3.4 | 2.6% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 52 | 79 | #447 | 15.5% | 33.0% | 59.6% | 0.1% | +35.3pp |
| 2023 | 30 | 22 | #1701 | 7.4% | 26.6% | 58.9% | 0.6% | — |
| 2024 | 40 | 56 | #981 | 6.1% | 34.3% | 49.9% | 1.6% | — |
| 2025 | 16 | 2 | #2189 | 13.1% | 30.7% | 54.3% | 1.0% | -59.8pp |
- — Scored here as a middle school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 61.5% | 64.9% | +3.4pp |
| Male | 63.5% | 71.8% | +8.3pp |
| Black/African American | 64.3% | 66.7% | +2.4pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 64.1% | 70.8% | +6.7pp |
| English Learners | 64.4% | 69.0% | +4.6pp |
| Homeless | 73.3% | 64.3% | -9.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 64.6% | 68.5% | +3.9pp |
| All Students | 62.6% | 68.5% | +5.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | — | 66.2% | — |
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