La Merced Intermediate: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
La Merced Intermediate posts 27% meeting the standard and 8.7% exceeding it, against 39% and 16.8% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 35 | 9% | 27% | +3.3 | 22.2% | 5.0% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
La Merced Intermediate scores 35 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 35th 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 →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “27% proficient” and call it done. La Merced Intermediate deserves a closer read. The school sits in Montebello, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 9th to the 35th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 400 middle schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 27% of students meet the standard today, above the 24% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 33% | 35% | 23% | 24% | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 25% | 36% | 37% | 32% | 30% |
| Grade 8 | 26% | 35% | 35% | 38% | 29% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 27% | 22% | 19% | 19% | 19% |
| Grade 7 | 12% | 16% | 21% | 21% | 24% |
| Grade 8 | 17% | 20% | 18% | 22% | 27% |
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.
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 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 La Merced Intermediate in Montebello, 28.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. La Merced Intermediate trails its district average for low-income students by 6.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (22.1% Math proficient); Hispanic students (29.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 22.9 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 625 students tested.
5 of 13 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 2.2pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +3.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$472 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
On the state's science test (CAST), 15% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is La Merced Intermediate a good middle school?
What are La Merced Intermediate's CAASPP test scores?
How does La Merced Intermediate rank in California?
Is La Merced Intermediate getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at La Merced Intermediate?
How does La Merced Intermediate compare to other schools in Montebello?
How does La Merced Intermediate serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 45
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 67
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 52
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 | 239 | 6% | 24% | 23% | 46% | 31% | −16 |
| Grade 7 | 236 | 5% | 25% | 25% | 45% | 30% | −18 |
| Grade 8 | 212 | 5% | 24% | 30% | 41% | 29% | −17 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 242 | 10% | 9% | 29% | 52% | 19% | −16 |
| Grade 7 | 236 | 10% | 14% | 23% | 53% | 24% | −10 |
| Grade 8 | 213 | 15% | 12% | 20% | 53% | 27% | −5 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 213 | 3% | 12% | 65% | 20% |
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 | 625 | 28.8% | −7 | −9 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 655 | 29.7% | −6 | −9 |
| Students with Disabilities | 149 | 7.4% | −3 | −10 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Merced Intermediate ← | — | 35 | 8.7% | 26.8% | +3.3 | 5.0% |
| Katherine Edwards Middle School STEAM & Dual Immer | 3.1 mi | 51 | 22.0% | 47.3% | −1.2 | 0.6% |
| Macy Intermediate | 2 mi | 49 | 22.8% | 46.1% | −1.6 | 1.6% |
| Montebello Intermediate | 1.5 mi | 33 | 8.7% | 25.9% | +0.5 | 0.3% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 22 | 9 | #1829 | 6.1% | 23.6% | 7.8% | 7.9% | -8.4pp |
| 2022 | 31 | 35 | #1396 | 7.7% | 27.4% | 34.9% | 0.1% | -0.9pp |
| 2023 | 36 | 37 | #1374 | 7.5% | 25.5% | 37.9% | 0.2% | +5.3pp |
| 2024 | 33 | 39 | #1353 | 9.4% | 25.9% | 29.5% | 1.8% | +9.2pp |
| 2025 | 35 | 35 | #1454 | 8.7% | 26.8% | 22.2% | 5.0% | +3.3pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7.3% | 25.6% | +18.3pp |
| Male | 8.4% | 19.1% | +10.7pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.1% | 22.1% | +14.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 14.9% | 23.2% | +8.3pp |
| English Learners | 8.6% | 26.2% | +17.6pp |
| Foster Youth | 22.2% | — | — |
| Homeless | 16.7% | 13.6% | -3.1pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 8.4% | 22.5% | +14.1pp |
| All Students | 7.8% | 22.3% | +14.5pp |
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