Middle Schools in Central Unified

Central Unified has three middle schools in this comparison, all serving grades 7–8: Glacier Point Middle, Rio Vista Middle and El Capitan Middle. In 2025–2026, Rio Vista led the group in English language arts (ELA), math and science, but the three-school averages were below state results in all three subjects: 42% versus 49% in ELA, 28% versus 38% in math, and 25% versus 36% in science. The most important area-wide finding is that average results fell furthest behind the state in science and math.

Rio Vista Middle stands out at the top: its results were 50% in ELA, 37% in math and 29% in science. It was the only school above the state in all-grades ELA, by about 0 points, while its math and science results remained below the state. At the other end, El Capitan Middle had the lowest ELA and math results, at 36% and 23%; the gaps between the top and bottom schools were 14 points in each subject. In science, El Capitan scored 25%, while Glacier Point Middle was lowest at 21—a school spread of 8 points. There are notable grade-level exceptions: Rio Vista was above the state in grade 7 ELA and grade 8 math.

Recent changes show different trajectories: Glacier Point gained 8 points in ELA and math, while Rio Vista fell 9 points in ELA and 7 in science; El Capitan’s science result rose 10 points. Across the schools, the average was essentially flat in ELA, up 2 points in math and up 1 in science. SchoolDigger gives Rio Vista the strongest latest standing: rank 1,122 of 2,703, in the 58th percentile, with 3 stars. Its student-teacher ratio was 22.9:1, compared with 21.6:1 at Glacier Point and 19.9:1 at El Capitan. For 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible was reported for 69% of Rio Vista students, 87% at Glacier Point and 87% at El Capitan; these are contextual differences, not explanations for results. Chronic absenteeism also exceeded the state’s 18% at all three schools: 31% at Glacier Point, 29% at Rio Vista and 24% at El Capitan.