Middle Schools in Ceres Unified

The three middle schools in Ceres Unified serve grades 7–8 and enroll 1,924 students, or about 641 per school on average. In 2025–2026, their average proficiency was 41% in English language arts (ELA), 25% in math and 28% in science, compared with California results of 49%, 38% and 36%. Most importantly, math is the clearest shared challenge: all three schools scored well below the state, and their results were clustered within just 3 percentage points.

Blaker-Kinser Junior High stands out in ELA and science, while Mae Hensley Junior High leads in math. Blaker-Kinser’s ELA score of 47% was 9 points above the next school but 2 points below the state; its 38% in science led Mae Hensley by 14 points and was 2 points above the state. Mae Hensley reached 27% in math, 2 points ahead of Blaker-Kinser but 12 points below the state. Cesar Chavez Junior High had the lowest result in all three subjects, trailing the subject leaders by 9 points in ELA, 3 in math and 16 in science.

All three schools improved in math and science between the two reported years: their average math result rose by 7 percentage points and science by 8, while ELA edged down slightly at each school. The math and science gaps with the state narrowed, but ELA moved farther behind. SchoolDigger’s latest rankings place Blaker-Kinser at 1,329 of 2,703 (51st percentile, 3 stars), ahead of Mae Hensley at 1,713 (37th percentile, 2 stars) and Cesar Chavez at 1,806 (33rd percentile, 2 stars); its percentile rose from 40 to 51, while Mae Hensley rose from 29 to 37 and Cesar Chavez shifted from 34 to 33. For context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligibility was 87% at Cesar Chavez, 93% at Mae Hensley and 90% at Blaker-Kinser; reported student-teacher ratios ranged from 21.4 to 23.1. These are observations, not explanations of school results.