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David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy · PalmdaleMagnet

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy posts low test scores — and grade 8 tests above grade 6 here this year, by 1.1pp. If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.

39221 22nd Street West, 93551 (opens in new tab)·Palmdale Elementary·Palmdale·Grades 6-8·952 students·75% low-income·Magnet·2024–25 CAASPP·(661) 947-3075·Website
Magnet program — specialized public school with themed curriculum. Enrollment via district lottery, not neighborhood-based.
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope1538
% Exceeded5%17%
% Met+19%39%
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)Weak · p28Average · p50
Absence31.6%18.5%
Suspension9.7%3.7%
Scope Score
15
🌱 Building Momentum · Needs Support
ranked #2,124 statewide · #11 of 13 in Palmdale Elementary

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy scores 15 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 5th 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 “19% proficient” and call it done. David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Palmdale, where three in four 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 5th percentile since 2019.

CA Dashboard
ELAOrange(Declined)MathOrange(Increased)

This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 19% meet the standard today, versus 23% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 627%33%28%27%23%
Grade 731%29%28%29%25%
Grade 836%38%28%23%27%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 611%12%8%12%12%
Grade 718%13%12%9%14%
Grade 814%13%9%9%10%

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.

19%
77%
Grade 6 · 23% proficient
21%
74%
Grade 7 · 26% proficient
8%
19%
73%
Grade 8 · 27% proficient

The 6 things our score weighs

Exceeded standard
4.8%
State 16.8%
12.0pp below state avg
Met or exceeded
18.6%
State 39.3%
20.7pp below state avg
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8)
Weak
State average
The same students gained 28 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
31.6%
State 18.5%
13.1pp above state avg
Suspension rate
9.7%
State 3.7%
6.1pp above state avg
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
17.8%
State 18.0%
0.2pp 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 here the two measures disagree. Ours puts this school around the 28th percentile of California middle schools; the state's puts it around the 6th in reading and math together — a harder read than ours. We are not going to pretend one of those is the answer. Neither measure sees an individual child's classroom, and a disagreement this size is worth asking the principal about directly.

Both measures, ranked against every California school
Our growth measuresame cohort, G6→G8SchoolScope growth measure: 28th percentile among California middle schools.28th pctile
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −16 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 8th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.8th pctile · −16 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: −21 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 5th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.5th pctile · −21 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy in Palmdale, 21.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 27.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy trails its district average for low-income students by 6.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (10.1% Math proficient); Hispanic students (24.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.2 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 737 students tested.

All students at this school: 19% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 19%, district —, state 39%19%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 16%, district 22%, state 32%16% · −3 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 18%, district 26%, state 32%18% · −1 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 21%, district 25%, state 44%21% · +2 vs school
MaleMale: this school 16%, district 24%, state 42%16% · −2 vs school
Black/African AmericanBlack/African American: this school 11%, district 13%, state 26%11% · −7 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 2%, district 6%, state 15%2% · −16 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 0%, district 5%, state 11%0% · −18 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 37%, district 34%, state 56%37% · +18 vs school
Two or More RacesTwo or More Races: this school 23%, district 28%, state 56%23% · +4 vs school

7 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 6.4pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +5.0pp.

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 students685 studentsLow-income students, reading: −17 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 685 students.−17 pts · −14 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students599 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: −17 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 599 students.−17 pts · −15 vs typical
English Only572 studentsEnglish Only, reading: −16 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 572 students.−16 pts · −16 vs typical
English Learner186 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: −18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 186 students.−18 pts · −13 vs typical
Black students149 studentsBlack students, reading: −18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −4 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 149 students.−18 pts · −14 vs typical
Math
Low-income students683 studentsLow-income students, math: −21 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 683 students.−21 pts · −16 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students599 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −21 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 599 students.−21 pts · −15 vs typical
English Only570 studentsEnglish Only, math: −22 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 570 students.−22 pts · −19 vs typical
English Learner186 studentsEnglish Learner, math: −18 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 186 students.−18 pts · −15 vs typical
Black students147 studentsBlack students, math: −24 scale-score points versus expectation, against −8 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 147 students.−24 pts · −16 vs typical
this school typical California middle school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 4 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 31.6%, district 29.9%, state 18.5%31.6% · +13.1pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 9.7%, district —, state 3.7%9.7% · +6.1pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–632.5%
Grades 7–831.5%

Where the path goes

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

K-12 Feeder Path
▼
Middle
David G. Millen Law and Govern…Magnet
15/100
This school

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

Palmdale Academy CharterScope 49estimated path

The road from this school ends at Palmdale Academy Charter, which sent 6 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 13 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Palmdale Academy Charter around 2031, and 6 years is a long time for a school to hold still.

6 UC ENROLLEES (FALL 2025) · 13 AP SUBJECTS TAUGHT → full record on Palmdale Academy Charter's page
Source: UC & College Board

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 23:1, district 25:123:1
Teaching staff43 teachers
Avg. experience11.7 years
Fully credentialed83%
First-year teachers16%
Intern / emergency permit2.7%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$58,752 – $131,333
Principal salary$148,872 – $157,080
Superintendent salary$334,851

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: $21,157, CA average $14,491$21,157 · spent at this school
Federal share$796 per student

$796 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$22,456 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
Instruction59%
Instruction support11%
Student services12%
Administration7%
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$15,361 per pupil
2019$14,286 per pupil
2018$13,697 per pupil
2017$12,106 per pupil
2016$11,281 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic69.2%
District 78.6% · CA 56.1%
Black19.6%
District 12.5% · CA 4.8%
Other4.9%
District 4.3% · CA 9.0%
White4.8%
District 4.0% · CA 19.9%
Asian1.4%
District 0.6% · CA 10.2%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 75.3% (12pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$120K · CA $85K
Median home value$585K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+31% · CA 35%
ZIP population54,360
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), 13% 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy a good middle school?

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy has a Scope Score of 15 out of 100, placing it in the 5th percentile of California middle schools and ranked #2,124 statewide. 4.8% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 12.0 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 18.6% of students at David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 4.8% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 13.8% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 4.8% 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. 1,860 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy rank in California?

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy ranks #2,124 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 5th 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy getting better or worse?

SchoolScope follows the same cohort of students across grades rather than comparing two different grades in the same year. At David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy that cohort is 2023 G6 → 2025 G8, measured in SBAC scale-score points. Its gain ranks weak among California middle schools — roughly the 28th 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy?

31.6% of students at David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 18.5%. The suspension rate is 9.7%. 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 David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy compare to other schools in Palmdale?

David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy scores 15/100 (5th 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 952 students. Use the schools in Palmdale page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.

How does David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy in Palmdale, 21.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 27.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy trails its district average for low-income students by 6.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (10.1% Math proficient); Hispanic students (24.6% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.2 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 737 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 Palmdale →

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%
4.8%
↓ vs CA 16.8% · 36th pctile
Met or exceeded · 23%
18.6%
↓ vs CA 39.3% · 33th pctile
Growth (2023 G6 → 2025 G8) · 20%
Weak
↓ vs CA average · 28th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
31.6%
↓ vs CA 18.5% · 32th pctile
▼ 2.2pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate · 5%
9.7%
↓ vs CA 3.7% · 26th pctile
▼ 0.6pp lower vs 2024
EL proficiency (ELPAC) · 5%
17.8%
↓ vs CA 18.0% · 45th pctile
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 62784%19%22%55%23%−23
Grade 72995%21%25%49%25%−22
Grade 83538%19%25%48%27%−19
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 62803%10%19%69%12%−22
Grade 72995%9%20%66%14%−20
Grade 83514%6%18%72%10%−22

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
Schoolwide3532%11%57%30%

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 Disadvantaged73721.5%−6−17
Hispanic/Latino65424.6%−7−14
Black/African American17316.3%−1−16
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
David G. Millen Law and Government Magnet Academy ←—154.8%18.6%+1.1pp+28 pts9.7%
California average—3816.8%39.3%+1.5pp—3.7%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20191913#17585.2%23.0%7.7%14.3%+6.4pp
20222020#17384.4%22.9%20.1%11.1%+3.2pp
20231714#18834.5%18.9%21.9%13.8%+0.7pp
2024111#21854.6%18.2%33.8%10.3%-3.1pp
2025155#21244.8%18.6%31.6%9.7%+1.1pp
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 17 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
Female7.8%31.0%+23.2pp
Male7.4%32.6%+25.2pp
Asian0.0%23.1%+23.1pp
Black/African American16.9%37.8%+20.9pp
White7.1%0.0%-7.1pp
Hispanic/Latino5.3%29.9%+24.6pp
Two or More Races11.8%39.3%+27.5pp
Students with Disabilities10.3%33.9%+23.6pp
English Learners5.1%26.8%+21.7pp
Foster Youth15.9%23.1%+7.2pp
Homeless25.9%55.0%+29.1pp
Military-Connected0.0%——
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged8.4%33.8%+25.4pp
All Students7.6%31.8%+24.2pp
11California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students−16840Moderate−21838Minimal
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged−17685Moderate−21683Minimal
Hispanic or Latino−17599Moderate−21599Minimal
English Only−16572not categorised−22570not categorised
English Learner−18186Moderate−18186Moderate
Black or African American−18149Moderate−24147Minimal
Students with Disabilities−16143Moderate−17141Moderate
Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only−1095not categorised−1995not categorised
English Learners Only−2491not categorised−1891not categorised
Long-Term English Learner (grades 6-8 only)−1984Moderate−2284Minimal
White039Average−439Average
Foster Youth−2420Minimal−1620Moderate
Two or More Races+120Average−3220Minimal
Homeless Youth−2219Minimal−3019Minimal
Asian+313Average−1613Moderate

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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