Middle Schools in Calexico Unified

The middle-school picture in Calexico Unified includes two schools—Enrique Camarena Junior High and William Moreno Junior High—both serving grades 7–8. In 2025–2026, students at both schools had lower proficiency than the state in English language arts (ELA), math and science. The central takeaway is that Camarena leads locally, but neither school reaches statewide proficiency in any of the three subjects.

Camarena was the stronger of the two in all three all-grade subjects: 34% met the ELA standard, compared with 26% at Moreno, an 8-point lead; in math, the results were 23% and 16%, a 7-point lead; and in science, 15% and 13%, a 2-point lead. Camarena also exceeded the district average in every subject, while Moreno was below it in all three. Still, Camarena’s results were 15 points below the state in both ELA and math, and 21 points below in science. Grade 8 math is a particular contrast: Camarena scored 26% and Moreno 14%, a 12-point gap, compared with just 3 points between them in grade 7.

Both schools improved in ELA and math from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, but science trends differed: Camarena’s science result fell by 1 point, while Moreno’s rose by 6. Across the pair, average science proficiency increased by 3 points, yet the gap with the state widened by about 1 point. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for Camarena fell from the 40th in 2023–2024 to the 27th in 2025–2026, despite its recent ELA and math gains; Moreno moved from the 13th to the 12th percentile. The schools have similar student–teacher ratios—21.9 at Camarena and 21.5 at Moreno. Both report free/reduced lunch eligible (FRL) for 2024–2025: 86% at Camarena and 93% at Moreno. These are contextual differences, not evidence of what caused the score patterns.