How does San Elijo Middle compare to other middle schools in San Marcos?

San Elijo Middle has a SchoolScope composite score of 54.3/100, placing it at the 81st percentile statewide. 29% of students exceed standard, with a total of 2,654 students tested across grades and subjects.

What percentage of students exceed standards at San Elijo Middle?

29.0% of students at San Elijo Middle exceed the state standard on CAASPP assessments, while 58.3% meet or exceed it. The gap between these two numbers reveals whether the school pushes students beyond basic proficiency.

Is San Elijo Middle improving or declining?

Based on CAASPP data, San Elijo Middle's proficiency rate decreases by 3.6 percentage points from Grade 6 to grade 8 growth. This pattern in test scores may reflect a variety of factors beyond the school itself.

What is the chronic absenteeism rate at San Elijo Middle?

12.8% of students at San Elijo Middle are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days). This metric reflects school culture and family engagement, and is weighted at 15% in our composite score.

San Elijo Middle

Middle School

San Marcos Unified San MarcosSan Diego County92078

📍 1600 Schoolhouse Way

Composite Score

out of 100

State Percentile

of middle schools

State Rank

of 1,714 California middle schools

🤝

Culture First

Strong school culture with high family engagement, even if test scores are still developing.

Composite scores are SchoolScope's analysis of public data from the California Dept. of Education (CAASPP, chronic absenteeism, suspension rates). They are not official CDE ratings and should not be the sole basis for school decisions. See methodology.

School overview

Enrollment

1,482 students

Student-Teacher Ratio

27:1

Free/Reduced Lunch

18%

Teachers

55 full-time

Dashboard indicators

ELA Year-over-Year

Increased

+6.5 pts DFS change

Math Year-over-Year

Maintained

+1.0 pts DFS change

EL Proficiency (ELPAC)

47.1%

English learners at Level 4 (Well Developed) · 34 tested

Data source: California School Dashboard 2025, ELPAC 2024

Student demographics

Hispanic23.8%

White56.8%

Asian7.1%

Black1.5%

Other10.9%

Performance breakdown

Performance breakdown for San Elijo Middle
Category	Percentage
Exceeded Standard	29.0%
Met Standard	29.3%
Below Standard	41.7%

What other rankings don't show you

Most rating sites report "58% proficient" for San Elijo Middle and stop there. Here's what that number hides:

29.0% of students exceeded standard while 29.3% met it. That exceeded rate is 11.7 points above the state average of 17.3%. That's near the San Marcos Unified district average of 28.1%. The gap between "met" and "exceeded" can reveal how much a school's curriculum challenges students beyond proficiency.

Proficiency drops by 3.6 percentage points from Grade 6 to grade 8 growth — a signal that the school may not be sustaining early gains.

California's Dashboard shows ELA performance increased and Math maintained year-over-year. 47.1% of English learners reached Level 4 (Well Developed) on ELPAC.

Chronic absenteeism is 12.8%, better than the state average of 19.3%.

Why the exceeded vs. met split matters →

Key metrics

% Exceeded Standard

29.0%

Students scoring above proficient

% Met or Above

58.3%

Students meeting standard

Growth (G6→G8)

-3.6pp

Change in proficiency rate

Chronic Absenteeism

12.8%

Students missing 10%+ of days

Suspension Rate

1.3%

Students suspended at least once

Total Tested

2,654

Across all grades & subjects

Grade trajectory

ELA Trajectory

G6 → G7 → G8

Math Trajectory

G6 → G7 → G8

ELA scores by grade

Grade	Tested	Exceeded	Met	Nearly Met	Not Met	Met+Above
6th	412	31.1%	37.1%	20.1%	11.7%	68.2%
7th	440	32.5%	35.0%	17.1%	15.4%	67.5%
8th	484	27.3%	38.4%	18.0%	16.3%	65.7%

Math scores by grade

Grade	Tested	Exceeded	Met	Nearly Met	Not Met	Met+Above
6th	408	26.0%	26.5%	29.4%	18.1%	52.5%
7th	435	27.8%	20.5%	26.0%	25.8%	48.3%
8th	475	29.5%	18.3%	21.9%	30.3%	47.8%

K-12 Feeder PathBoundary data

Elementary

La Costa Meadows Elementary

Also serves area

▼

Middle

San Elijo Middle

54.381st pctile

This school

▼

High School

San Marcos High

61.779th pctile

Feeder patterns derived from 2015-16 NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries may have changed. Contact your school district for current information.