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Public middle school

Independence

Lodi, CA · Grades K-12 · 166 students · Lodi Unified

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

50% of tested students are Proficient or Advanced in English and 0% in math. Explore the evidence alongside the opportunities your child would use.

SchoolScope archetype

Building Momentum

What this means for your family

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.

How archetypes are assigned →

Contact

DistrictLodi Unified
PrincipalDave Vujovich
GradesK-12
Enrollment166 students

Math

0%

Grades 6 & 8 · Proficient or Advanced

English

50%

Grades 6 & 8 · Proficient or Advanced

Students

166

Total enrollment

Chronic absence

32%

Students absent 10% or more of school days

What are you trying to decide?

The overall score is a starting point.

Look at subject results, trends and student groups, then consider the opportunities your child would use.

View school performance →

Academic performance

What do the results tell us?

2025 results · Grades 6 & 8 · weighted by students tested within each subject.

Proficient or Advanced combines Levels 3 and 4, formerly Standard Met and Standard Exceeded. California changed the names for 2025–26; the cut scores did not. About the labels →

Share at Proficient or Advanced

0%25%50%75%100%2019: 20%2022: 14%2024: 12%2025: 0%2019: 45%2022: 44%2024: 53%2025: 50%201920222023202420250%25%50%75%100%2019: 20%2022: 14%2024: 12%2025: 0%2019: 45%2022: 44%2024: 53%2025: 50%20192022202320242025
● Math┄ English

Gaps in the lines mark years without annual results.

Exact annual results
YearMathEnglish
201920%45%
202214%44%
2023——
202412%53%
20250%50%

Each year describes that year’s tested students. Changes between years do not follow the same children over time. Cohort-growth evidence, when available, is labeled separately below.

Annual results and the full academic record
Is it getting better · CAASPP 2019 to 2025

Slipped from the 44th to the 14th percentile since 2019.

Most rating sites would stop at “25% proficient” and call it done. Independence deserves a closer read. Two-thirds of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch (California: 64%) — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

Independence's low-income kids hit 50.0% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.

56 tested · 1 of 3 grades published · no cohort tracked

Independence scores 21 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 14th percentile of 2,177 California middle schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).

This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 25% meet the standard today, versus 33% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.

Percentile among 2,177 middle schools statewide
Year detailsYear2019 · 44th percentile · Scope Score 33 of 1002022 · 38th percentile · Scope Score 27 of 1002023 · 66th percentile · Scope Score 39 of 1002024 · 37th percentile · Scope Score 30 of 1002025 · 14th percentile · Scope Score 21 of 100
ELARed(Declined)MathRed(Declined Significantly)
ShowHide the by-grade tables, year by year
ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 7—56%45%——
Grade 845%44%—53%50%
Grade 1158%61%42%51%50%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 7—29%45%——
Grade 820%14%—12%0%
Grade 117%22%0%11%14%
Where students land · CAASPP 2024–25

One in four of students here meet the standard. 0% clear it by a lot.

ELA50% met or exceeded
Exceeded 13%Met 38%Nearly Met 38%Not Met 13%
Math13% met or exceeded
Exceeded 4%Met 9%Nearly Met 26%Not Met 61%
Exceeded Met Nearly Met Not Met
California middle schools · average17% exceeded · 40% met or exceeded
This school against the California average
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
Scope% Exceeded% Met+GrowthAbsenceSuspension
This school210%25%—31.8%2.0%
CA average · Middle School3917%40%—18.1%3.6%
This schoolCA avg
Scope2139
% Exceeded0%17%
% Met+25%40%
Growth——
Absence31.8%18.1%
Suspension2.0%3.6%
California’s growth results and student groups
State growth model · CDE growth model 2024–25

California's own growth model splits here — the 99th percentile in reading against the 6th in math, among middle schools.

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 about at the middle of California middle schools in reading, and the 6th in math. We show it; we don't score it.

— 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.

California's growth model, ranked against the schools it scores
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: +27 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 99th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.99th pctile · +27 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

Students & opportunity

Who shares in the school’s results?

Who it works for · CAASPP 2024–25

How every group of students does here

At Independence in Lodi, 50.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 33.2% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Independence outperforms its district average for low-income students by 16.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (10.5% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 20 students tested.

Met or exceeded · reading and math combined
All students at this school: 30% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 30%, district —, state 40%30%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 31%, district 29%, state 32%31% · +0 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 20%, district 35%, state 44%20% · −10 vs school

12 of 15 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
ShowHide Student-group results by grade
Student-group results by grade

Results compare different grade groups in the same year, relative to the lowest tested grade. They do not track the same children over time. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

ShowHide California's growth model by student group

The daily experience

What is it like to be a student here?

Students per teacher

Student–teacher ratio is a schoolwide staffing measure, not an average class size.

The people teaching · CDE staffing 2024–25

About 15 students for every teacher here.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Students per teacher15 · district 22
Teaching staff13 teachers
Avg. experience22.5 years
Fully credentialed82%
PrincipalDave Vujovich
ShowHide what the district pays
Teacher salary schedule$64,739 – $120,665
Principal salary$149,591 – $184,788
Superintendent salary$313,635

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

Attendance & discipline · 2024–25

Kids here miss more school, and get suspended less, than the state average.

Grades 9–12 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 4–6 students (56.9% vs 7.1%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.

31.8% of students miss a month or more of school, versus 18.1% statewide. High absence often tracks community stress — the data can't say why.

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 31.8%, district 21.8%, state 18.1%31.8% · +13.7pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 2.0%, district —, state 3.6%2.0% · −1.6pp vs state
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
ShowHide attendance by student group and by grade
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 4–67.1%
Grades 7–834.6%
Grades 9–1256.9%

Resources & neighborhood

What sits behind the school experience?

Explore school spending and the district budget
What gets spent · FY 2024–25

It spends $19,162 per student, more than the California average.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $19,162, CA average $14,491$19,162 · spent at this school
District current expense · FY 2024–25$18,750 per student
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction 61%Instruction support 12%Student services 10%Administration 7%Buildings & maintenance 9%Other 1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

ShowHide the district's spending year by year
district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$14,545 per pupil
2019$12,593 per pupil
2018$12,898 per pupil
2017$11,165 per pupil
2016$10,723 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood · ACS 2024

Two-thirds of students here qualify for free or reduced lunch, versus three in five statewide.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Worth knowing

At 166 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California middle school (≈860).

On the state's science test (CAST), 22% 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.

Hispanic or Latino53.0% · district 48.7% · CA 56.1%
White18.1% · district 15.9% · CA 19.9%
Asian16.3% · district 19.0% · CA 10.2%
Black6.0% · district 6.4% · CA 4.8%
Other6.6% · district 9.9% · CA 9.0%
GenderFemale 54.8% · Male 44.6% · Non-binary 0.6%
Free or reduced lunch72.3% · CA 64%
Median income$105K · CA $85K
Median home value$567K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+34% · CA 35%
ZIP population28,427
Median age41 years

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

Culture & philosophy

What is the school’s approach?

School-stated approach · questions for your visit

Look beyond the brochure

A source-reviewed culture summary is not available for this profile yet. Ask how teaching, student support and family communication work day to day.

Find contact and visit details →

Family voices

What would you want another family to know about the daily experience here?

Ask a current family: “When your child needs help, how does the school respond?”

Educator voices

What should families understand about teaching, support and the school community?

Ask an educator: “How do you adapt a typical day for children with different needs?”

Bring these questions on a visit →

Compare nearby schools

What are the alternatives?

Compare schools serving the same grade stage. Private schools have no comparable state-test score.

2025 · middle schools · combined reading and math measures. Percentiles compare schools within their enrollment group.

Private options →
SchoolTypePerformance bandAdvancedProficient or AdvancedDistanceSelect
IndependencePublicNeeds Support0%25%School being viewed
Open the comparison tool →
More nearby public and private options
Your other options

Your other options

Nearby public schools across grade levels, plus private options within 10 miles.

All schools in Lodi →

Private schools do not receive a Scope Score or statewide ranking on SchoolScope.

8 private schools within 10 miles
Not scored
What should I check before applying?
District public
Confirm the attendance boundary and any permit options.
Charter
Check applications, priorities and deadlines with each school.
Private
Confirm admission requirements, tuition and financial aid.

Moving & enrollment

Which schools could serve my child?

Check your address with the district

School location and nearby schools do not establish attendance eligibility. Confirm boundaries and permit requirements with Lodi Unified.

District information →

Schools across the K–12 journey

Source: proximity. Schools are grouped by grade stage. Nearby schools are not confirmed feeder links or address assignments. Verify the current path and eligibility with the district.

Plan your next step

What should I do next?

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 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.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is Independence a good middle school?
Independence has a Scope Score of 21 out of 100, placing it in the 14th percentile of California middle schools and ranked #1,867 statewide. 0.0% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 17.2 percentage points below the California average of 17.2%. 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 Independence's CAASPP test scores?
On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 25.0% of students at Independence met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 0.0% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 25.0% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 0.0% went beyond it. Most rating sites report only the combined "proficient" number. SchoolScope surfaces the exceeded-vs-met split because it shows how many students go beyond the standard rather than only meeting it. 23 student-subject combinations were assessed.
How does Independence rank in California?
Independence ranks #1,867 among California middle schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 14th percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), grade-level growth (Grade 6 to grade 8 growth), 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.
What is the attendance and school culture like at Independence?
31.8% of students at Independence are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), compared to the California average of 18.1%. The suspension rate is 2.0%. 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 Independence compare to other schools in Lodi?
Independence scores 21/100 (14th 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 166 students. Use the schools in Lodi page or the map view to compare all middle schools nearby.
How does Independence serve low-income and underrepresented students?
At Independence in Lodi, 50.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 33.2% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Independence outperforms its district average for low-income students by 16.8 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (10.5% Math proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 20 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.

Use the published evidence to prepare questions, then verify fit and access with the school.

Behind the evidence

Inspect the full record

Public sources, visible methods and the underlying school record. Source years and limitations stay attached to the evidence.

How the Scope Score is calculated

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see the state comparison and weights.

What the score weighs · CAASPP 2024–25

The 4 things our score weighs

What the score weighs
What we weighHereStateWeight
Exceeded standard0.0%17.2%42%
Met or exceeded25.0%40.0%23%
Chronic absenteeism31.8%18.1%5%
Suspension rate2.0%3.6%5%

Source CAASPP 2025 · California Department of Education. Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How the score is built

A closer look at the evidence

Independence: reading the evidence

Independence posts low test scores — and suspensions run below the state rate (2.0% vs 3.6%). If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.

Subject proficiency describes tested students, while graduation describes a graduating cohort. These figures are not successive stages followed by the same students.

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.

Explore the underlying data →
Every number: score factors, grades, student groups and downloads
Every number · For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and nearest schools.

Independence is ranked #1,867 statewide · #6 of 6 in Lodi Unified.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Score factors
FactorSchoolStateWeight
Exceeded standard0.0%17.2%42%
Met or exceeded25.0%40.0%23%
Chronic absenteeism31.8%18.1%5%
Suspension rate2.0%3.6%5%
Exceeded standard
↓ vs CA 17.2% · index 35 · 50 = CA middle-school midpoint
Met or exceeded
↓ vs CA 40.0% · index 41 · 50 = CA middle-school midpoint
Chronic absenteeism
↓ vs CA 18.1% · index 31 · 50 = CA middle-school midpoint · ▼ 4.1pp lower vs 2024
Suspension rate
↑ vs CA 3.6% · index 57 · 50 = CA middle-school midpoint · ▲ 0.2pp higher vs 2024
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ShowHide table 02 — By grade & subgroup
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 35——————
Grade 4———————
Grade 54——————
Grade 6———————
Grade 79——————
Grade 8120%50%50%0%50%+4
Grade 112218%32%41%9%50%+1
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 35——————
Grade 4———————
Grade 54——————
Grade 6———————
Grade 79——————
Grade 8110%0%27%73%0%−32
Grade 112110%5%10%76%14%−9

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, that we hold no valid result for it, or that the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide373%19%70%8%

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 Disadvantaged2050.0%+17+12
03Nearest middle schoolssorted by Scope Score · Grade gap = grade 3 vs grade 5, this year, different students; Cohort growth = one school's returning cohort tracked across grades (mostly, not exactly, the same kids), in scale-score points — that's the measurement the Scope Score weights
SchoolDistScopeEXCMET+Grade gapCohort growthSusp
Independence ←—210.0%25.0%——2.0%
California average—3917.2%40.0%+1.5pp—3.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
ShowHide table 04 — More measures
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrade gap
20193344#108917.5%32.5%35.5%2.0%—
20222738#13137.8%35.6%61.5%0.5%—
20233966#72318.2%45.5%35.6%2.7%—
20243037#13538.8%32.4%35.9%1.9%—
20252114#18670.0%25.0%31.8%2.0%—
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
  • — Growth data isn't available — the state needs matched grades across years to compute it.
  • — Scored here as a middle school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
ShowHide table 05 — Climate by student group
Group20192025Δ
Female51.6%45.2%-6.4pp
Male55.8%53.0%-2.8pp
Asian31.1%29.7%-1.4pp
Black/African American59.1%72.2%+13.1pp
Filipino44.4%——
Hispanic/Latino57.3%50.0%-7.3pp
White59.3%53.3%-6.0pp
Students with Disabilities55.9%66.7%+10.8pp
English Learners53.7%53.3%-0.4pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged49.7%50.3%+0.6pp
All Students53.3%48.9%-4.4pp
06California growth model, by student group2025 · scale-score points vs the state's prediction · shown, never scored
ShowHide table 06 — California growth model, by student group
GroupReadingnCDE bandMathnCDE band
All Students+2714Exceptional−1914Moderate
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged+3211Exceptional−2211Minimal

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. 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=2,177 middle schools · Vintages: climate subgroups 2019+2025 · district finance per its label · ACS 2022 · Data updated 2026-09-18

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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