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Middle College High · San Pablo

Middle College High: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.

Middle College posts 34.8% exceeding the standard — versus 15.8% 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.

2600 Mission Bell Drive, 94806 (opens in new tab)·West Contra Costa Unified·San Pablo·Grades 9-12·294 students·65% low-income·Magnet·2024–25 CAASPP·(510) 215-3881
Magnet program — specialized public school with themed curriculum. Enrollment via district lottery, not neighborhood-based.
2019–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
This schoolCA avg
Scope5944
% Exceeded35%16%
% Met+77%36%
Grad rate100.0%87.6%
College readiness0.0%35.4%
Absence7.9%30.2%
Suspension0.7%3.6%
Scope Score
59
💪 Strong All-Around · Solid
ranked #387 statewide · #2 of 12 in West Contra Costa Unified

Middle College High scores 59 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 82nd percentile of 2,160 California high 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 “77% proficient” and call it done. Middle College deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Pablo, where three in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.

Middle College's low-income kids hit 91.8% 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

Percentile among 2,160 high schools statewide

Climbed from the 74th to the 82nd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 100 high schools.

CA Dashboard
ELAOrange(Declined Significantly)MathGreen(Increased)

The pandemic drop is behind this school: 77% of students meet the standard today, above the 66% who did in 2019.

ELA — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 1175%84%92%92%94%
Math — % met or exceeded, by grade
Grade20192022202320242025
Grade 1157%64%58%53%59%

The story this school is actually telling

Proficient by 11th grade
77%
State 36%
Graduate
100%
State 88%
Pass an AP exam
0%
State 35%

Of 100 students here: 77 are proficient by 11th grade → 100 graduate → 0 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.

91.8%
Low-income · ELA · met standard

Middle College's most underrated number

91.8% 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.

Middle College low-income: 91.8%State low-income: 38.2%

The 6 things our score weighs

Graduation rate
100.0%
State 87.6%
12.4pp above state avg
Exceeded standard
34.8%
State 15.8%
18.9pp above state avg
College readiness
0.0%
State 35.4%
AP exam pass rate below state avg
Met or exceeded
76.8%
State 35.7%
41.1pp above state avg
Chronic absenteeism
7.9%
State 30.2%
22.3pp below state avg
Suspension rate
0.7%
State 3.6%
3.0pp below state avg
Worth a school visit

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 what share of students complete the full college-prep course sequence, and who gets steered into 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 Middle College High in San Pablo, 91.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 23.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Middle College High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 68.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (49.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (97.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 10.4 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 49 students tested.

All students at this school: 77% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 77%, district —, state 36%77%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 70%, district 20%, state 32%70% · −6 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 74%, district 31%, state 44%74% · −2 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 76%, district 18%, state 32%76% · −1 vs school
MaleMale: this school 81%, district 28%, state 42%81% · +4 vs school
AsianAsian: this school 85%, district 50%, state 72%85% · +8 vs school
Black/African AmericanBlack/African American: too few students to report‹11
FilipinoFilipino: too few students to report‹11
WhiteWhite: too few students to report‹11
this school district, same group California, same group

Showing up, and staying in class

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 7.9%, district 27.3%, state 30.2%7.9% · −22.3pp vs state
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 0.7%, district —, state 3.6%0.7% · −3.0pp vs state
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 9–122.7%

Where the path goes

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

K-12 Feeder Path
Elementary
Madera Elementary
83/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Kensington Elementary
72/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Ohlone Elementary
61/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Harding Elementary
52/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Olinda Elementary
48/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Montalvin Manor Elementary
46/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Ellerhorst Elementary
44/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Fairmont Elementary
44/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Hanna Ranch Elementary
40/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Sheldon Elementary
37/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Tara Hills Elementary
36/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Lupine Hills Elementary
34/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Shannon Elementary
32/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Collins Elementary
31/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Michelle Obama Elementary
30/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Valley View Elementary
28/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Nystrom Elementary
28/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Lincoln Elementary
27/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Washington Elementary
26/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Lake Elementary
25/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Bayview Elementary
23/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Murphy Elementary
21/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Stege Elementary
21/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Martin Luther King, Jr. Elemen…
21/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Edward M. Downer Elementary
20/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Coronado Elementary
20/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Dover Elementary
20/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Peres Elementary
20/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Highland Elementary
17/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Grant Elementary
17/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Verde Elementary
13/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Ford Elementary
11/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
Cesar E. Chavez Elementary
9/100
100% of this boundary feeds here
High School
Middle College HighMagnet
59/100
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.

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 33:1, district 23:133:1
Teaching staff10 teachers
Avg. experience19.3 years
Fully credentialed94%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$58,573 – $119,395
Principal salary$139,320 – $164,698
Superintendent salary$315,895

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

Course Breadth
AP courses offered0

What gets spent here

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $4,660, CA average $14,815$4,660 · spent at this school

These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.

Federal share$146 per student

$146 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$22,102 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
Instruction55%
Instruction support12%
Student services11%
Administration7%
Buildings & maintenance10%
Other5%

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$15,242 per pupil
2019$13,839 per pupil
2018$14,231 per pupil
2017$12,364 per pupil
2016$11,254 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Hispanic50.0%
District 58.5% · CA 56.1%
Asian20.8%
District 10.0% · CA 10.2%
Other13.3%
District 11.7% · CA 9.0%
Black9.9%
District 10.6% · CA 4.8%
White6.1%
District 9.2% · CA 19.9%
GenderFemale 64.0%Male 35.7%Non-binary 0.3%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 65.0% (1pp above CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$86K · CA $85K
Median home value$608K · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+24% · CA 35%
ZIP population62,546
Median age37 years

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

Worth Knowing

At 294 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).

On the state's science test (CAST), 62% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.

Frequently asked questions

Is Middle College High a good high school?

Middle College High has a Scope Score of 59 out of 100, placing it in the 82nd percentile of California high schools and ranked #387 statewide. 34.8% of students exceeded the state standard on the 2025 CAASPP assessment, which is 18.9 percentage points above the California average of 15.8%. The Scope Score weights 7 dimensions for high schools: graduation rate (25%), exceeded standard (22%), college/career readiness (20%), met or exceeded (proficient) (18%), 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 Middle College High's CAASPP test scores?

On the 2025 CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessment, 76.8% of students at Middle College High met or exceeded the state standard in ELA and Math combined, and 34.8% exceeded it. The gap between those numbers matters: 42.0% of students are at the proficiency floor, while 34.8% 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. 138 student-subject combinations were assessed.

How does Middle College High rank in California?

Middle College High ranks #387 among California high schools by Scope Score, placing it in the 82nd percentile. This ranking is based on a weighted composite of 2025 CAASPP test performance (exceeded and met rates), 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 Middle College High?

7.9% of students at Middle College High are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), which is better than the California average of 30.2%. The suspension rate is 0.7%, indicating a low-discipline-incident environment. 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 Middle College High compare to other schools in San Pablo?

Middle College High scores 59/100 (82nd percentile) among California high 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 294 students. Use the schools in San Pablo page or the map view to compare all high schools nearby.

How does Middle College High serve low-income and underrepresented students?

At Middle College High in San Pablo, 91.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 23.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Middle College High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 68.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (49.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (97.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 10.4 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 49 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

Private alternatives nearby

Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.


For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.

01Score factorsWeighted composite · 2024–25
Graduation rate · 25%
100.0%
↑ vs CA 87.6% · 65th pctile
Exceeded standard · 22%
34.8%
↑ vs CA 15.8% · 70th pctile
College readiness · 20%
0.0%
↓ vs CA 35.4% · 29th pctile
Met or exceeded · 18%
76.8%
↑ vs CA 35.7% · 79th pctile
Chronic absenteeism · 5%
7.9%
↑ vs CA 30.2% · 68th pctile
Suspension rate · 5%
0.7%
↑ vs CA 3.6% · 63th pctile
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 116948%46%4%1%94%+47
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET++/CA
Grade 116922%38%23%17%59%+36
Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Grade 5/8/116916%46%38%0%

CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.

Subgroup · ELATestedMET+vs districtvs CA
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged4991.8%+69+54
Hispanic/Latino4097.5%+76+59
Asian1794.1%+41+20
03Peer comparison · nearest high schoolssorted by Scope Score
SchoolDistScopeEXCMET+GrowthSusp
Middle College High ←5934.8%76.8%0.7%
Leadership Public Schools: Richmond2.6 mi4914.8%45.0%2.8%
Summit Public School: Tamalpais1 mi347.8%21.8%3.1%
Richmond High1.2 mi297.0%24.1%12.4%
California average4415.8%35.7%3.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
Graduation Rate
100.0%
AP Exam Prepared
Not offered
This school may not offer AP courses
A-G Completion
100.0%
A-G are the 15 courses (across 7 subjects) required for UC/CSU eligibility
College-Going Rate
94.4%
YearScopePctileRankExcMet+AbsentSuspGrowth
20195774#53130.1%66.2%6.2%1.0%
20225984#34534.5%73.7%6.3%0.7%
20235984#33736.7%75.0%7.9%0.9%
20245985#33038.2%72.2%6.6%0.7%
20255982#38734.8%76.8%7.9%0.7%
NO STATEWIDE TESTING 2020–21 (COVID) · SCORE AND PERCENTILE ARE RELATIVE TO EACH YEAR'S FIELD
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
Group20192025Δ
Female2.3%3.7%+1.4pp
Male0.9%1.0%+0.1pp
Asian0.0%4.9%+4.9pp
Black/African American5.3%3.4%-1.9pp
White0.0%0.0%+0.0pp
Hispanic/Latino2.0%2.0%+0.0pp
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged1.7%3.1%+1.4pp
All Students1.7%2.7%+1.0pp
Two or More Races0.0%
EXC = exceeded standard · MET+ = met or exceeded ("proficient") · Source: CA Dept. of Education · CAASPP 2024–25 · n=2,160 high 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