Isaac L. Sowers Middle: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Isaac L. Sowers posts 37.7% exceeding the standard — versus 16.8% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 66 | 38% | 68% | +0.4 | 11.5% | 2.8% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Isaac L. Sowers Middle scores 66 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 91st 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 →
💪 Strong All-Around — Ask about what we don't score — class size, electives, the feel of a classroom — strong numbers everywhere on paper don't mean every classroom feels the same.
Most rating sites would stop at “68% proficient” and call it done. Isaac L. Sowers deserves a closer read. The school sits in Huntington Beach, where one in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Isaac L. Sowers's low-income kids hit 59.4% 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.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 83rd to the 91st percentile since 2019 — past roughly 200 middle schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 68% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 78% | 54% | 60% | 66% | 70% |
| Grade 7 | 74% | 65% | 61% | 74% | 80% |
| Grade 8 | 75% | 68% | 70% | 62% | 69% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 72% | 58% | 56% | 65% | 66% |
| Grade 7 | 62% | 52% | 45% | 57% | 58% |
| Grade 8 | 61% | 49% | 50% | 58% | 68% |
The story this school is actually telling
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The honest read: the share exceeding holds steady across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Isaac L. Sowers's most underrated number
59.4% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 Isaac L. Sowers Middle in Huntington Beach, 59.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 57.5% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Isaac L. Sowers Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (51.7% Math proficient); White students (68.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 41.0 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 180 students tested.
8 of 17 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.
Low-income student ELA proficiency falls by 0.9pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: -2.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 7–8 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (13.5% vs 6.8%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
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
On the state's science test (CAST), 59% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Isaac L. Sowers Middle a good middle school?
What are Isaac L. Sowers Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Isaac L. Sowers Middle rank in California?
Is Isaac L. Sowers Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Isaac L. Sowers Middle?
How does Isaac L. Sowers Middle compare to other schools in Huntington Beach?
How does Isaac L. Sowers Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
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.
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 | 240 | 31% | 39% | 20% | 11% | 70% | +23 |
| Grade 7 | 254 | 48% | 32% | 14% | 6% | 80% | +32 |
| Grade 8 | 242 | 31% | 38% | 20% | 11% | 69% | +23 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 240 | 35% | 31% | 21% | 13% | 66% | +31 |
| Grade 7 | 252 | 40% | 18% | 27% | 15% | 58% | +24 |
| Grade 8 | 241 | 41% | 27% | 20% | 12% | 68% | +36 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 241 | 28% | 31% | 36% | 5% |
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 | 180 | 59.4% | +2 | +21 |
| White | 428 | 68.9% | −3 | +7 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 112 | 66.1% | +7 | +27 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaac L. Sowers Middle ← | — | 66 | 37.7% | 68.4% | +0.4 | 2.8% |
| Talbert (Samuel E.) Middle | 1.1 mi | 62 | 37.3% | 67.1% | +4.7 | 4.3% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 56 | 83 | #344 | 34.5% | 70.0% | 3.9% | 4.8% | -6.9pp |
| 2022 | 54 | 82 | #393 | 22.8% | 57.4% | 14.0% | 3.5% | +2.5pp |
| 2023 | 58 | 82 | #388 | 24.0% | 57.0% | 13.0% | 4.0% | +1.9pp |
| 2024 | 63 | 90 | #231 | 32.3% | 63.8% | 8.9% | 1.9% | -5.9pp |
| 2025 | 66 | 91 | #193 | 37.7% | 68.4% | 11.5% | 2.8% | +0.4pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 3.7% | 10.2% | +6.5pp |
| Male | 4.0% | 12.5% | +8.5pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.6% | 16.1% | +8.5pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.2% | 8.0% | +2.8pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 5.9% | 22.4% | +16.5pp |
| English Learners | 8.3% | 7.7% | -0.6pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.1% | 21.7% | +14.6pp |
| All Students | 3.9% | 11.4% | +7.5pp |
| Filipino | — | 23.1% | — |
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