Stephens Middle: 44% of kids clear the bar — ahead of the state's 39%. But suspensions run 3× the state rate.
Stephens posts 44% meeting the standard, against 39% across the state. The number below is the one to ask about on a visit.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43 | 17% | 44% | +6.8 | 33.4% | 11.2% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Stephens Middle scores 43 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 54th 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 →
📈 On the Rise — Ask how many years the improvement has held, not just the latest one — one strong cohort and a real turnaround can look identical in a single year of data.
Most rating sites would stop at “44% proficient” and call it done. Stephens deserves a closer read. The school sits in Long Beach, where three in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Stephens's low-income kids hit 50.5% 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 33rd to the 54th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 300 middle schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 44% of students meet the standard today, above the 33% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 35% | 33% | 33% | 49% | 47% |
| Grade 7 | 33% | 28% | 43% | 57% | 55% |
| Grade 8 | 38% | 20% | 35% | 56% | 59% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 30% | 18% | 29% | 34% | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 31% | 15% | 28% | 36% | 44% |
| Grade 8 | 28% | 12% | 11% | 26% | 31% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students met or exceeded the standard, versus 39.3% statewide.
of students were suspended, versus 3.7% statewide — a school visit will tell you more than this number.
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 holds steady across grades; the floor rises 12.1pp. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Stephens's most underrated number
50.5% 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 about the discipline philosophy and what a typical suspension is for. Numbers can't tell you whether a campus feels strict or chaotic — a visit can.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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.
How every group of students does here
At Stephens Middle in Long Beach, 50.5% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 41.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Stephens Middle outperforms its district average for low-income students by 8.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (32.5% Math proficient); Hispanic students (49.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 39.2 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 501 students tested.
5 of 15 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 10.2pp from grade 6 to grade 8 at this school. District average: +5.8pp.
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
$1,185 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), 20% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Stephens Middle a good middle school?
What are Stephens Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Stephens Middle rank in California?
Is Stephens Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Stephens Middle?
How does Stephens Middle compare to other schools in Long Beach?
How does Stephens Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 45
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.
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 | 215 | 17% | 30% | 28% | 26% | 47% | −0 |
| Grade 7 | 203 | 19% | 36% | 23% | 22% | 55% | +7 |
| Grade 8 | 203 | 18% | 41% | 22% | 20% | 59% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 216 | 15% | 15% | 30% | 41% | 30% | −5 |
| Grade 7 | 206 | 17% | 26% | 22% | 34% | 44% | +10 |
| Grade 8 | 205 | 16% | 16% | 26% | 42% | 31% | −1 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 205 | 5% | 15% | 64% | 16% |
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 | 501 | 50.5% | +9 | +12 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 417 | 49.0% | +4 | +10 |
| English Learners | 130 | 24.0% | +12 | +14 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephens Middle ← | — | 43 | 16.9% | 44.1% | +6.8 | 11.2% |
| Intellectual Virtues Academy of Long Beach | 2 mi | 55 | 26.9% | 56.3% | +3.4 | 2.5% |
| Hughes Middle | 2.4 mi | 48 | 24.7% | 48.9% | +0.1 | 9.6% |
| Lindsey Academy | 2.9 mi | 32 | 8.3% | 29.2% | +5.2 | 10.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 32 | 33 | #1353 | 12.0% | 32.5% | 17.2% | 11.0% | +1.3pp |
| 2022 | 12 | 2 | #2128 | 6.2% | 21.0% | 44.8% | 19.6% | -9.9pp |
| 2023 | 31 | 23 | #1682 | 8.8% | 29.9% | 41.0% | 9.5% | -8.2pp |
| 2024 | 44 | 65 | #784 | 13.9% | 43.0% | 35.5% | 9.0% | -0.2pp |
| 2025 | 43 | 54 | #1038 | 16.9% | 44.1% | 33.4% | 11.2% | +6.8pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 16.6% | 35.8% | +19.2pp |
| Male | 17.8% | 31.9% | +14.1pp |
| Asian | 14.3% | 17.4% | +3.1pp |
| Black/African American | 21.5% | 50.0% | +28.5pp |
| White | 11.0% | 6.7% | -4.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 17.8% | 35.1% | +17.3pp |
| Pacific Islander | 19.2% | 43.5% | +24.3pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 25.9% | 45.6% | +19.7pp |
| English Learners | 16.8% | 34.0% | +17.2pp |
| Foster Youth | 9.1% | — | — |
| Homeless | 30.0% | 41.1% | +11.1pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 17.4% | 36.4% | +19.0pp |
| All Students | 17.2% | 33.8% | +16.6pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 42.9% | — |
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