Norman L. Sullivan Middle: The score is middle of the pack. The trajectory isn't.
Norman L. Sullivan sits mid-pack on raw proficiency — and it's climbing faster than most schools anywhere near it — and that holds when you follow the same students across grades.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46 | 17% | 43% | +6.6 | 1.8% | 3.4% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Norman L. Sullivan Middle scores 46 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 61st 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 →
🚀 Growth Engine — Ask how the school tracks each kid's growth year to year, and what happens when a kid stalls instead of gaining.
Most rating sites would stop at “43% proficient” and call it done. Norman L. Sullivan deserves a closer read. The school sits in Bonsall, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 1.8% chronic absenteeism — versus 18.5% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Slipped from the 85th to the 61st percentile since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 43% meet the standard today, versus 61% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 61% | 40% | 44% | 45% | 41% |
| Grade 7 | 70% | 57% | 58% | 50% | 63% |
| Grade 8 | 68% | 61% | 57% | 48% | 52% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 52% | 35% | 36% | 30% | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 57% | 30% | 36% | 45% | 42% |
| Grade 8 | 58% | 36% | 28% | 24% | 33% |
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 floor rises 10.9pp. 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 changed — new curriculum, new principal, new program. Momentum has a cause, and a visit will find 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 Norman L. Sullivan Middle in Bonsall, 43.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 41.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Norman L. Sullivan Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (27.1% Math proficient); White students (63.9% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 38.1 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 271 students tested.
7 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 rises by 19.4pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +14.4pp.
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
What gets spent here
$464 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), 48% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Norman L. Sullivan Middle a good middle school?
What are Norman L. Sullivan Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Norman L. Sullivan Middle rank in California?
Is Norman L. Sullivan Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Norman L. Sullivan Middle?
How does Norman L. Sullivan Middle compare to other schools in Bonsall?
How does Norman L. Sullivan 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 | 137 | 17% | 24% | 31% | 28% | 41% | −6 |
| Grade 7 | 200 | 23% | 40% | 19% | 19% | 63% | +15 |
| Grade 8 | 170 | 16% | 36% | 25% | 23% | 52% | +6 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 139 | 14% | 16% | 32% | 37% | 30% | −5 |
| Grade 7 | 198 | 14% | 28% | 26% | 32% | 42% | +8 |
| Grade 8 | 169 | 19% | 14% | 22% | 45% | 33% | +0 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 169 | 22% | 25% | 48% | 4% |
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 | 271 | 43.9% | +2 | +6 |
| White | 208 | 63.9% | −0 | +2 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 204 | 42.2% | +2 | +3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norman L. Sullivan Middle ← | — | 46 | 17.1% | 43.4% | +6.6 | 3.4% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 58 | 85 | #297 | 27.8% | 60.9% | 3.5% | 3.8% | +5.9pp |
| 2022 | 49 | 76 | #521 | 17.3% | 43.3% | 15.0% | 7.5% | +11.2pp |
| 2023 | 48 | 66 | #741 | 16.8% | 43.1% | 6.2% | 4.3% | +2.4pp |
| 2024 | 43 | 63 | #823 | 15.8% | 40.4% | 2.6% | 1.6% | -1.6pp |
| 2025 | 46 | 61 | #870 | 17.1% | 43.4% | 1.8% | 3.4% | +6.6pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 3.1% | 1.5% | -1.6pp |
| Male | 3.7% | 1.1% | -2.6pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | — | — |
| Filipino | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 1.3% | 0.9% | -0.4pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 23.7% | 15.4% | -8.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 2.9% | 0.0% | -2.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 11.1% | 5.7% | -5.4pp |
| English Learners | 0.0% | 2.3% | +2.3pp |
| Homeless | 7.0% | 0.0% | -7.0pp |
| Military-Connected | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.1% | 1.3% | -3.8pp |
| All Students | 3.4% | 1.3% | -2.1pp |
| White | — | 0.0% | — |
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