Vista Middle: Scores climb 9.2 points from grade 6 to grade 8. But one in four miss a month of school or more.
Vista's strongest signal is real. Attendance is the number to ask about — and both belong on the same page.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42 | 7% | 26% | +9.2 | 30.4% | 0.9% |
| CA average · Middle School | 43 | 17% | 39% | +1.5 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
Vista Middle scores 42 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 51st 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 “26% proficient” and call it done. Vista deserves a closer read. The school sits in Panorama City, where nearly all students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: +9.2pp separates this year's grade 6 from its grade 8. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G6 → 2025 G8 points the same way.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 17th to the 51st percentile since 2019 — past roughly 600 middle schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 26% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 28% | 22% | 22% | 29% | 25% |
| Grade 7 | 35% | 28% | 22% | 30% | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 25% | 28% | 20% | 28% | 42% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 20% | 12% | 9% | 14% | 16% |
| Grade 7 | 23% | 14% | 10% | 13% | 22% |
| Grade 8 | 17% | 11% | 14% | 15% | 17% |
The story this school is actually telling
separates this year's grade 6 from its grade 8. The state average falls 0.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G6 → 2025 G8 points the same way.
of students miss a month or more of school, versus 18.5% statewide. High absence often tracks community stress — the data can't say why.
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 3.5pp across grades; the floor rises 17.6pp. 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.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask how the school tracks and follows up on attendance. High absence often reflects community stress, not classroom quality — a visit will tell you which.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- 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 Vista Middle in Panorama City, 34.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Vista Middle trails its district average for low-income students by 6.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (18.1% Math proficient); Hispanic students (33.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 33.3 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 993 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 17.5pp 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.
$2,274 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), 14% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Vista Middle a good middle school?
What are Vista Middle's CAASPP test scores?
How does Vista Middle rank in California?
Is Vista Middle getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Vista Middle?
How does Vista Middle compare to other schools in Panorama City?
How does Vista Middle serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 37
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 | 309 | 5% | 20% | 26% | 49% | 25% | −22 |
| Grade 7 | 344 | 9% | 27% | 24% | 41% | 36% | −12 |
| Grade 8 | 379 | 9% | 34% | 30% | 28% | 42% | −4 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 311 | 6% | 10% | 23% | 60% | 16% | −19 |
| Grade 7 | 347 | 6% | 16% | 24% | 54% | 22% | −12 |
| Grade 8 | 379 | 8% | 9% | 29% | 54% | 17% | −15 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 383 | 4% | 10% | 67% | 19% |
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 | 993 | 34.6% | −6 | −4 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 939 | 33.4% | −8 | −5 |
| English Learners | 215 | 1.4% | −6 | −9 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vista Middle ← | — | 42 | 7.1% | 26.4% | +9.2 | 0.9% |
| Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles | 1.5 mi | 38 | 9.6% | 36.1% | +8.2 | 0.3% |
| Valor Academy Middle | 0.9 mi | 37 | 9.2% | 27.5% | +12.5 | 1.8% |
| Francisco Sepulveda Middle | 1.5 mi | 37 | 8.6% | 25.2% | −6.0 | 1.6% |
| California average | — | 43 | 16.8% | 39.3% | +1.5 | 3.7% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 26 | 17 | #1663 | 7.2% | 24.6% | 18.5% | 0.3% | -3.0pp |
| 2022 | 28 | 26 | #1610 | 4.7% | 18.9% | 43.4% | 0.4% | +2.5pp |
| 2023 | 31 | 23 | #1688 | 3.6% | 16.3% | 37.1% | 0.3% | +1.1pp |
| 2024 | 31 | 32 | #1499 | 5.9% | 21.8% | 29.5% | 0.6% | +0.2pp |
| 2025 | 42 | 51 | #1094 | 7.1% | 26.4% | 30.4% | 0.9% | +9.2pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 18.4% | 28.1% | +9.7pp |
| Male | 18.5% | 32.9% | +14.4pp |
| Asian | 12.5% | 14.3% | +1.8pp |
| Black/African American | 30.8% | 60.0% | +29.2pp |
| White | 3.7% | 8.3% | +4.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 19.0% | 31.2% | +12.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 28.4% | 38.9% | +10.5pp |
| English Learners | 20.7% | 34.4% | +13.7pp |
| Foster Youth | 45.5% | — | — |
| Homeless | 18.2% | 38.5% | +20.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 18.8% | 31.1% | +12.3pp |
| All Students | 18.5% | 30.6% | +12.1pp |
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