Rancho Dominguez Preparatory: The scores are below where anyone wants them. Here's what they don't tell you.
Rancho Dominguez Preparatory posts low test scores — and suspensions run below the state rate (0.4% vs 3.7%). If this is your zoned school, the numbers below are where to start a conversation, not where to end one.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 25 | 10% | 28% | -4.4 | 27.5% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Rancho Dominguez Preparatory scores 25 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 12th 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 →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “28% proficient” and call it done. Rancho Dominguez Preparatory deserves a closer read. The school sits in Long Beach, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 0.4% suspension rate — versus 3.7% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 12th percentile since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 28% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 40% | 42% | 48% | 34% | 40% |
| Grade 7 | 31% | 30% | 31% | 33% | 29% |
| Grade 8 | 36% | 45% | 22% | 44% | 39% |
| Grade 11 | 51% | 47% | 42% | 45% | 46% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 32% | 42% | 45% | 23% | 24% |
| Grade 7 | 17% | 13% | 26% | 25% | 20% |
| Grade 8 | 12% | 25% | 2% | 29% | 16% |
| Grade 11 | 25% | 12% | 13% | 14% | 25% |
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 6 things our score weighs
Ask what changed in the last two years, and what the school is asking families for. Growth shows up in these numbers a year or two after it shows up in classrooms.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask what changes between grade 6 and grade 8 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 Rancho Dominguez Preparatory in Long Beach, 37.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Rancho Dominguez Preparatory trails its district average for low-income students by 3.0 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (19.2% Math proficient); Hispanic students (39.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.5 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 272 students tested.
9 of 16 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 2.5pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: -0.3pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 9–12 students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (29.8% vs 15.9%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Rancho Dominguez Preparatory serves grades 6-12 — students can complete middle and high school here, without a separate middle-to-high transition.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$2,257 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), 22% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rancho Dominguez Preparatory a good middle school?
What are Rancho Dominguez Preparatory's CAASPP test scores?
How does Rancho Dominguez Preparatory rank in California?
Is Rancho Dominguez Preparatory getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Rancho Dominguez Preparatory?
How does Rancho Dominguez Preparatory compare to other schools in Long Beach?
How does Rancho Dominguez Preparatory serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 49
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 60
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 | 65 | 14% | 26% | 23% | 37% | 40% | −7 |
| Grade 7 | 59 | 8% | 20% | 34% | 37% | 29% | −19 |
| Grade 8 | 62 | 13% | 26% | 26% | 35% | 39% | −7 |
| Grade 11 | 119 | 18% | 28% | 29% | 25% | 46% | −1 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 67 | 7% | 16% | 27% | 49% | 24% | −11 |
| Grade 7 | 59 | 5% | 15% | 32% | 47% | 20% | −14 |
| Grade 8 | 61 | 11% | 5% | 26% | 57% | 16% | −16 |
| Grade 11 | 118 | 7% | 18% | 31% | 44% | 25% | +1 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 192 | 4% | 18% | 64% | 14% |
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 | 272 | 37.9% | −3 | −0 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 234 | 39.7% | −1 | +1 |
| Black/African American | 28 | 32.1% | −4 | −1 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Dominguez Preparatory ← | — | 25 | 9.9% | 28.0% | −4.4 | 0.4% |
| Intellectual Virtues Academy of Long Beach | 1.8 mi | 55 | 26.9% | 56.3% | +3.4 | 2.5% |
| Hughes Middle | 2.1 mi | 48 | 24.7% | 48.9% | +0.1 | 9.6% |
| Stephens Middle | 1.7 mi | 43 | 16.9% | 44.1% | +6.8 | 11.2% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 24 | 14 | #1735 | 8.0% | 28.1% | 16.7% | 0.3% | -11.3pp |
| 2022 | 28 | 28 | #1563 | 11.6% | 32.8% | 28.9% | 0.2% | -7.2pp |
| 2023 | 19 | 3 | #2124 | 9.1% | 28.9% | 25.0% | 0.2% | -34.4pp |
| 2024 | 33 | 38 | #1368 | 12.6% | 31.3% | 23.6% | 0.4% | +7.7pp |
| 2025 | 25 | 12 | #1969 | 9.9% | 28.0% | 27.5% | 0.4% | -4.4pp |
- — Scored here as a middle school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 18.8% | 30.9% | +12.1pp |
| Male | 15.1% | 26.1% | +11.0pp |
| Asian | 5.3% | — | — |
| Black/African American | 29.0% | 35.7% | +6.7pp |
| White | 6.7% | 16.7% | +10.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 13.2% | 26.1% | +12.9pp |
| Pacific Islander | 17.6% | 38.9% | +21.3pp |
| Two or More Races | 35.7% | — | — |
| Students with Disabilities | 26.0% | 26.6% | +0.6pp |
| English Learners | 16.1% | 30.9% | +14.8pp |
| Foster Youth | 16.7% | 25.0% | +8.3pp |
| Homeless | 32.4% | 40.8% | +8.4pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.4% | 29.5% | +13.1pp |
| All Students | 16.8% | 28.2% | +11.4pp |
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