Preuss School UCSD: Low-income kids here outscore the state by 23 points. But this year's 8th graders test below its 6th graders.
Preuss School UCSD posts numbers for its most vulnerable students that most schools don't reach overall. The trend line is the part worth a closer look.
Preuss School UCSD scores 45 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 65th 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 →
Most rating sites would stop at “49% proficient” and call it done. Preuss School UCSD deserves a closer read. The school sits in La Jolla, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 61.0% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide.
As a charter, Preuss School UCSD enrolls by application, not address — the score reads the same, the enrollment path doesn't.
The story this school is actually telling
of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide.
proficiency runs 50% in this year's grade 6 against 47% 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 11.4pp across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. 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.
Preuss School UCSD's most underrated number
61.0% 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 5 things our score weighs
Ask the principal what changes between grade 6 and grade 8. The trajectory is the thing a tour will tell you more about than a spreadsheet.
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
K-12 Path
Preuss School UCSD serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here.
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 81
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
The community around it
Student demographics
3 more gaps by subject
Subgroups with fewer than 15 students are excluded for privacy. Gaps of less than 3 percentage points are not shown.
Weighted average across tested grades. Subgroups with fewer than 15 students excluded. Data: CDE CAASPP 2024-25.
Subgroup Growth by Grade
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 1.8pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +0.8pp.
Subgroups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Funding Breakdown
Neighborhood Context
Whole Child
Source: CDE SARC, 2024-25
For the data nerdsEvery number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
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 | 119 | 31% | 28% | 27% | 14% | 59% | +12 |
| Grade 7 | 118 | 14% | 38% | 28% | 19% | 53% | +5 |
| Grade 8 | 122 | 20% | 39% | 28% | 14% | 58% | +12 |
| Grade 11 | 113 | 44% | 38% | 15% | 3% | 82% | +35 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 119 | 18% | 24% | 35% | 23% | 42% | +7 |
| Grade 7 | 118 | 15% | 30% | 27% | 28% | 45% | +11 |
| Grade 8 | 121 | 13% | 22% | 35% | 30% | 36% | +3 |
| Grade 11 | 114 | 25% | 25% | 20% | 31% | 49% | +26 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 227 | 8% | 33% | 56% | 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 | 425 | 61.0% | +18 | +23 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 248 | 55.4% | +14 | +17 |
| Black/African American | 111 | 63.9% | +29 | +31 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preuss School UCSD ← | — | 45 | 18.7% | 48.7% | −3.5 | 3.4% |
| Standley Middle | 2.5 mi | 65 | 40.6% | 66.5% | −8.1 | 2.0% |
| California average | — | 40 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
- — Scored here as a middle school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.