Val Verde Academy: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Val Verde Academy posts 31.3% meeting the standard — versus 39.3% 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 | 46 | 9% | 31% | — | 18.8% | 3.2% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Val Verde Academy scores 46 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 63rd 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 “31% proficient” and call it done. Val Verde Academy deserves a closer read. It sits at the 63rd percentile of 2,238 California middle schools — but the ranking is the least interesting thing on this page.
Val Verde Academy's low-income kids hit 63.0% 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 28th to the 63rd percentile since 2019 — past roughly 600 middle schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 31% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 34% | 27% | 39% | — |
| Grade 4 | — | 34% | 35% | 25% | — |
| Grade 5 | — | 30% | 35% | 27% | — |
| Grade 6 | — | 18% | 32% | 63% | — |
| Grade 7 | — | 38% | 27% | 39% | — |
| Grade 8 | 50% | 25% | 30% | 26% | 44% |
| Grade 11 | 67% | 38% | 40% | 35% | 74% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | — | 35% | 18% | 28% | — |
| Grade 4 | — | 24% | 25% | 8% | — |
| Grade 5 | — | 7% | 29% | 13% | — |
| Grade 6 | — | 8% | 21% | 50% | — |
| Grade 7 | — | 22% | 8% | 29% | — |
| Grade 8 | 17% | 7% | 7% | 15% | 19% |
| Grade 11 | 0% | 10% | 3% | 6% | 11% |
The 5 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 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 Val Verde Academy in Perris, 63.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 39.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Val Verde Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 23.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (7.4% Math proficient); Hispanic students (57.7% ELA proficient). Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 27 students tested.
11 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.
Showing up, and staying in class
Grades 9–12 students miss school at roughly three times the rate of Grades 7–8 students (22.3% vs 4.3%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the upper grades.
Where the path goes
Val Verde Academy serves grades K-12 — students can complete their entire K-12 education here, with no school-to-school transitions.
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.
$10 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), 26% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Val Verde Academy a good middle school?
What are Val Verde Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does Val Verde Academy rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Val Verde Academy?
How does Val Verde Academy compare to other schools in Perris?
How does Val Verde Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
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 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 7 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 8 | 16 | 13% | 31% | 38% | 19% | 44% | −2 |
| Grade 11 | 19 | 32% | 42% | 21% | 5% | 74% | +26 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 7 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 8 | 16 | 6% | 13% | 50% | 31% | 19% | −14 |
| Grade 11 | 19 | 0% | 11% | 21% | 68% | 11% | −13 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 35 | 6% | 20% | 74% | 0% |
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 | 27 | 63.0% | +23 | +25 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 26 | 57.7% | +16 | +19 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val Verde Academy ← | — | 46 | 9.4% | 31.3% | — | 3.2% |
| Tomas Rivera Middle | 2.2 mi | 29 | 4.9% | 21.4% | −3.0 | 3.1% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 31 | 28 | #1439 | 8.3% | 33.3% | 12.1% | 5.2% | — |
| 2022 | 28 | 26 | #1594 | 5.6% | 19.8% | 42.7% | 0.4% | +3.2pp |
| 2023 | 29 | 17 | #1805 | 3.5% | 20.9% | 25.2% | 0.5% | -8.6pp |
| 2024 | 34 | 42 | #1277 | 7.2% | 37.0% | 20.0% | 1.3% | -35.6pp |
| 2025 | 46 | 63 | #828 | 9.4% | 31.3% | 18.8% | 3.2% | — |
- — Growth data isn't available — the state needs matched grades across years to compute it.
- — Scored here as a middle school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8.6% | 13.6% | +5.0pp |
| Male | 16.7% | 24.4% | +7.7pp |
| Black/African American | 4.8% | 30.0% | +25.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 16.0% | 15.4% | -0.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 31.4% | 47.6% | +16.2pp |
| English Learners | 43.5% | 29.2% | -14.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 13.6% | 19.1% | +5.5pp |
| All Students | 12.3% | 18.8% | +6.5pp |
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