Summary:
The Dry Creek Joint Elementary district in California includes two middle schools, Antelope Crossing Middle and Silverado Middle, both serving grades 6-8 with enrollments of just over 1,000 students each.
Comparing the two, Silverado Middle is the higher-performing school, holding a better statewide ranking and a 4-star rating. It outperforms Antelope Crossing Middle in all core subjects, with particularly strong results in English Language Arts and Science, where both schools significantly beat the California state average. Silverado also has a lower rate of chronic student absenteeism.
An interesting finding is that the performance gap exists despite very similar per-student funding and teacher ratios. A key difference is the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which is substantially higher at Antelope Crossing. Both schools have shown improvement in their rankings over recent years, and the district as a whole performs above the state average. Parents may want to note that Silverado shows a notable dip in 7th-grade math scores, which could be an area for targeted support.
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