Pershing Middle: English learners reach fluency faster than the state rate. But this year's 8th graders test below its 6th graders.
Pershing has real strengths and one number that complicates them. Most rating sites show you one or the other. Both belong on the same page.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53 | 29% | 59% | -10.3 | 10.0% | 1.3% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Pershing Middle scores 53 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 77th 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “59% proficient” and call it done. Pershing deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Diego, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Pershing's low-income kids hit 54.0% 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 64th to the 77th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 200 middle schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 59% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 69% | 66% | 63% | 69% | 70% |
| Grade 7 | 62% | 72% | 62% | 60% | 68% |
| Grade 8 | 58% | 66% | 67% | 61% | 54% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 57% | 44% | 46% | 51% | 56% |
| Grade 7 | 57% | 55% | 47% | 53% | 56% |
| Grade 8 | 47% | 41% | 44% | 49% | 50% |
The story this school is actually telling
of English learners reached the top ELPAC level, versus 18.0% statewide.
proficiency runs 63% in this year's grade 6 against 52% in its grade 8. The state average falls by −0.5pp over the same span.
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 falls 10.4pp across grades; the floor slips 15.1pp. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. The school's 8th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 6th graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Pershing's most underrated number
54.0% 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 the principal what changes between grade 6 and grade 8. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.
- Ask what changes between grade 6 and grade 8 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 Pershing Middle in San Diego, 54.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 42.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Pershing Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 11.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (42.8% Math proficient); White students (70.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 34.6 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 346 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 falls by 14.5pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +0.8pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
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
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.
$493 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), 43% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pershing Middle a good middle school?
What are Pershing Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Pershing Middle rank in California?
Is Pershing Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Pershing Middle?
How does Pershing Middle compare to other schools in San Diego?
How does Pershing Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 70
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 | 332 | 33% | 36% | 18% | 12% | 70% | +23 |
| Grade 7 | 344 | 24% | 44% | 18% | 14% | 68% | +20 |
| Grade 8 | 268 | 23% | 32% | 20% | 26% | 54% | +8 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 332 | 35% | 20% | 29% | 16% | 56% | +21 |
| Grade 7 | 344 | 30% | 26% | 26% | 18% | 56% | +22 |
| Grade 8 | 269 | 28% | 22% | 24% | 26% | 50% | +18 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 270 | 17% | 26% | 50% | 7% |
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 | 346 | 54.0% | +11 | +16 |
| White | 450 | 70.2% | −5 | +8 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 283 | 56.9% | +16 | +18 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pershing Middle ← | — | 53 | 28.8% | 59.0% | −10.3 | 1.3% |
| Parkway Sports and Health Science Academy | 1.2 mi | 32 | 17.3% | 42.5% | −13.2 | 8.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 45 | 64 | #731 | 26.1% | 58.2% | 9.7% | 5.0% | -10.1pp |
| 2022 | 51 | 78 | #475 | 24.5% | 57.3% | 25.1% | 5.2% | -1.1pp |
| 2023 | 55 | 79 | #465 | 24.6% | 54.9% | 17.5% | 0.9% | +0.9pp |
| 2024 | 54 | 80 | #439 | 25.4% | 57.2% | 12.6% | 0.9% | -4.8pp |
| 2025 | 53 | 77 | #510 | 28.8% | 59.0% | 10.0% | 1.3% | -10.3pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8.3% | 8.9% | +0.6pp |
| Male | 10.9% | 10.9% | +0.0pp |
| Asian | 2.5% | 5.9% | +3.4pp |
| Black/African American | 8.1% | 20.8% | +12.7pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 12.8% | 12.0% | -0.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 10.4% | 9.3% | -1.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 21.1% | 17.4% | -3.7pp |
| English Learners | 7.7% | 10.5% | +2.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.2% | 15.9% | -0.3pp |
| All Students | 9.7% | 9.9% | +0.2pp |
| Homeless | — | 30.4% | — |
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