Sam H. Lawson Middle: High scores, real growth, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Sam H. Lawson posts 64.4% exceeding the standard — versus 16.8% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 91 | 64% | 88% | +6.0 | 3.8% | 0.4% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Sam H. Lawson Middle scores 91 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 99th 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 →
⭐ High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “88% proficient” and call it done. Sam H. Lawson deserves a closer read. It sits at the 99th percentile of 2,238 California middle schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
Sam H. Lawson's low-income kids hit 69.6% 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
Has held the 99th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 88% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 84% | 87% | 85% | 84% | 84% |
| Grade 7 | 88% | 91% | 89% | 88% | 87% |
| Grade 8 | 87% | 90% | 91% | 87% | 90% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 85% | 86% | 85% | 83% | 86% |
| Grade 7 | 91% | 91% | 90% | 90% | 88% |
| Grade 8 | 89% | 91% | 92% | 87% | 91% |
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 rises 9.6pp across grades; the floor rises 6.0pp. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. Kids here gain ground the longer they stay — the pattern you want to see. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Sam H. Lawson's most underrated number
69.6% 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 what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- 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 Sam H. Lawson Middle in Cupertino, 69.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 61.0% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Sam H. Lawson Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 8.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (71.9% Math proficient); Asian students (89.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 60.1 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 125 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 6.2pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +6.2pp.
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
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$134 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), 85% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sam H. Lawson Middle a good middle school?
What are Sam H. Lawson Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Sam H. Lawson Middle rank in California?
Is Sam H. Lawson Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Sam H. Lawson Middle?
How does Sam H. Lawson Middle compare to other schools in Cupertino?
How does Sam H. Lawson Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 85
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 91
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 82
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 | 270 | 47% | 37% | 6% | 10% | 84% | +38 |
| Grade 7 | 257 | 59% | 28% | 9% | 5% | 87% | +39 |
| Grade 8 | 263 | 56% | 34% | 5% | 5% | 90% | +44 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 283 | 69% | 16% | 7% | 7% | 86% | +51 |
| Grade 7 | 268 | 74% | 14% | 6% | 6% | 88% | +54 |
| Grade 8 | 267 | 81% | 10% | 6% | 2% | 91% | +59 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 266 | 56% | 29% | 13% | 2% |
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 | 125 | 69.6% | +9 | +31 |
| Asian | 647 | 89.5% | +2 | +15 |
| English Learners | 70 | 27.1% | −8 | +17 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam H. Lawson Middle ← | — | 91 | 64.4% | 87.7% | +6.0 | 0.4% |
| Joaquin Miller Middle | 2 mi | 89 | 72.6% | 91.0% | −0.9 | 1.0% |
| John F. Kennedy Middle | 1.7 mi | 86 | 70.8% | 90.9% | −1.1 | 0.2% |
| Cupertino Middle | 2 mi | 82 | 56.3% | 78.7% | +9.6 | 1.0% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 86 | 99 | #7 | 63.3% | 87.3% | 1.7% | 0.7% | +3.6pp |
| 2022 | 91 | 99 | #7 | 63.9% | 89.4% | 4.9% | 0.8% | +4.4pp |
| 2023 | 95 | 99 | #2 | 65.3% | 88.5% | 4.1% | 1.6% | +6.1pp |
| 2024 | 89 | 99 | #10 | 62.7% | 86.6% | 6.0% | 1.1% | +3.4pp |
| 2025 | 91 | 99 | #5 | 64.4% | 87.7% | 3.8% | 0.4% | +6.0pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 1.1% | 2.3% | +1.2pp |
| Male | 2.3% | 4.5% | +2.2pp |
| Asian | 0.9% | 2.5% | +1.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 15.9% | 21.9% | +6.0pp |
| Two or More Races | 4.0% | 0.0% | -4.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 5.6% | 16.9% | +11.3pp |
| English Learners | 0.9% | 4.1% | +3.2pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 10.0% | 7.8% | -2.2pp |
| All Students | 1.7% | 3.5% | +1.8pp |
| Filipino | — | 4.8% | — |
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