Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson posts 64% meeting the standard, and 35.7% going well past it. Most kids here keep up. Fewer get pushed further. Ask the school what it does for a child who already finds the work easy.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 62 | 36% | 64% | -2.8 | 18.0% | 0.1% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle scores 62 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 88th 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 “64% proficient” and call it done. Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson deserves a closer read. The school sits in Rancho Palos Verdes, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson's low-income kids hit 67.8% 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
Climbed from the 64th to the 88th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 500 middle schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 64% of students meet the standard today, above the 59% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 70% | 66% | 59% | 61% | 70% |
| Grade 7 | 73% | 71% | 71% | 66% | 72% |
| Grade 8 | 59% | 68% | 67% | 63% | 73% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 59% | 51% | 53% | 55% | 61% |
| Grade 7 | 53% | 49% | 47% | 52% | 54% |
| Grade 8 | 40% | 46% | 49% | 47% | 52% |
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 falls 1.7pp across grades; the floor rises 3.3pp. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson's most underrated number
67.8% 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.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- 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 Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle in Rancho Palos Verdes, 67.8% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 26.9 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (49.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (66.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 40.9 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 854 students tested.
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 2.3pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: -0.3pp.
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.
$1,295 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
At 1,337 students, this school is well above the typical California middle school (≈860).
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 Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle a good middle school?
What are Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle rank in California?
Is Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle?
How does Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle compare to other schools in Rancho Palos Verdes?
How does Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 49
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 | 442 | 37% | 33% | 16% | 14% | 70% | +24 |
| Grade 7 | 436 | 35% | 37% | 16% | 12% | 72% | +24 |
| Grade 8 | 387 | 36% | 38% | 13% | 13% | 73% | +27 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 441 | 40% | 21% | 17% | 22% | 61% | +26 |
| Grade 7 | 432 | 31% | 23% | 23% | 23% | 54% | +20 |
| Grade 8 | 384 | 35% | 17% | 20% | 27% | 52% | +20 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 386 | 20% | 28% | 41% | 12% |
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 | 854 | 67.8% | +27 | +30 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 709 | 66.0% | +25 | +27 |
| Black/African American | 193 | 66.3% | +31 | +34 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle ← | — | 62 | 35.7% | 63.8% | −2.8 | 0.1% |
| Miraleste Intermediate | 1.1 mi | 59 | 35.7% | 65.7% | −3.6 | 4.3% |
| Alexander Fleming Middle | 2 mi | 47 | 17.7% | 41.5% | +8.9 | 0.2% |
| Richard Henry Dana Middle | 2.7 mi | 40 | 11.2% | 31.3% | +3.6 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 45 | 64 | #728 | 30.4% | 58.9% | 15.2% | 0.3% | -15.2pp |
| 2022 | 52 | 80 | #425 | 28.5% | 58.6% | 26.2% | 0.0% | -1.7pp |
| 2023 | 60 | 86 | #316 | 30.8% | 57.8% | 21.7% | 0.0% | +2.0pp |
| 2024 | 56 | 84 | #364 | 31.9% | 57.5% | 15.9% | 0.1% | -3.3pp |
| 2025 | 62 | 88 | #270 | 35.7% | 63.8% | 18.0% | 0.1% | -2.8pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 14.3% | 16.7% | +2.4pp |
| Male | 16.2% | 19.3% | +3.1pp |
| Asian | 2.1% | 2.4% | +0.3pp |
| Black/African American | 18.3% | 18.5% | +0.2pp |
| White | 2.8% | 4.6% | +1.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 16.9% | 21.3% | +4.4pp |
| Pacific Islander | 15.8% | — | — |
| Two or More Races | 7.2% | 13.8% | +6.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 31.0% | 29.5% | -1.5pp |
| English Learners | 17.2% | 26.7% | +9.5pp |
| Homeless | 20.6% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 17.9% | 21.5% | +3.6pp |
| All Students | 15.2% | 18.0% | +2.8pp |
| Filipino | — | 18.2% | — |
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