Ingenuity Charter: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Ingenuity Charter posts low test scores — and suspensions run below the state rate (1.2% 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 | 18 | 0% | 16% | — | 51.6% | 1.2% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Ingenuity Charter scores 18 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 3rd 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 “16% proficient” and call it done. Ingenuity Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Diego, where four in five 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.
As a charter, Ingenuity Charter enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 3rd percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 16% of students meet the standard today, above the 5% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 7% | — | — | 31% | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 13% | 21% | 27% | 12% | 18% |
| Grade 11 | 21% | 26% | 31% | 25% | 28% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 0% | — | — | 0% | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 0% | 7% | 14% | 0% | 6% |
| Grade 11 | 5% | 2% | 1% | 6% | 5% |
The 4 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 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 Ingenuity Charter in San Diego, 24.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 42.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Ingenuity Charter trails its district average for low-income students by 18.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (4.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (25.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 8.5 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 74 students tested.
8 of 15 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
Where the path goes
Ingenuity Charter serves grades 6-12 — students can complete middle and high school here, without a separate middle-to-high transition.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
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
At 188 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California middle school (≈860).
On the state's science test (CAST), 16% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ingenuity Charter a good middle school?
What are Ingenuity Charter's CAASPP test scores?
How does Ingenuity Charter rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Ingenuity Charter?
How does Ingenuity Charter compare to other schools in San Diego?
How does Ingenuity Charter serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 31
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 56
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 6 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 7 | 12 | 0% | 33% | 17% | 50% | 33% | −14 |
| Grade 8 | 17 | 0% | 18% | 29% | 53% | 18% | −28 |
| Grade 11 | 72 | 4% | 24% | 32% | 40% | 28% | −19 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 7 | 12 | 0% | 8% | 33% | 58% | 8% | −26 |
| Grade 8 | 17 | 0% | 6% | 6% | 88% | 6% | −26 |
| Grade 11 | 73 | 1% | 4% | 11% | 84% | 5% | −18 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 80 | 1% | 15% | 69% | 15% |
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 | 74 | 24.3% | −18 | −14 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 67 | 25.4% | −16 | −13 |
| Students with Disabilities | 17 | 17.6% | −6 | +1 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingenuity Charter ← | — | 18 | 0.0% | 16.3% | — | 1.2% |
| Knox Middle | 1.5 mi | 34 | 6.0% | 21.8% | −3.4 | 0.7% |
| Bell Middle | 1.8 mi | 31 | 6.2% | 25.6% | +9.1 | 6.3% |
| Clark Middle | 3.3 mi | 28 | 6.1% | 21.9% | −1.8 | 4.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 12 | 2 | #1972 | 1.1% | 4.9% | 84.5% | 0.4% | — |
| 2022 | 17 | 4 | #2068 | 3.6% | 14.3% | 79.7% | 0.6% | — |
| 2023 | 25 | 9 | #1987 | 4.5% | 20.4% | 80.6% | 0.5% | — |
| 2024 | 13 | 3 | #2154 | 0.0% | 10.6% | 67.4% | 1.1% | — |
| 2025 | 18 | 3 | #2171 | 0.0% | 16.3% | 51.6% | 1.2% | — |
- — 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.
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 14 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
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