Summary:
Four middle schools in Merced City Elementary serve grades 7–8, with 2,468 students total and enrollments clustered between 607 and 629. In 2025–2026, the schools averaged 34% proficiency in ELA, 17% in math, and 16% in science, compared with California averages of 49%, 38%, and 36%. The clearest shared challenge is that every school is below the state in all three subjects, with the largest average gap in math: 22 percentage points.
Herbert H. Cruickshank Middle leads in all-grade ELA at 41% and math at 23%, respectively 9 and 8 points above the other three schools’ averages. Herbert Hoover Middle leads in science at 19%, 4 points above the other schools’ average, and has the strongest 7th-grade ELA result. Cruickshank leads 8th-grade ELA and both grades in math. At the other end, Tenaya Middle is lowest in all-grade ELA (27%) and math (12%), while Rudolph Rivera Middle is lowest in science (14%).
Across the two reported test years, the four-school average fell by 4 points in ELA and 2 in math, while science was nearly unchanged. Hoover was the only school to improve in both ELA and science, rising 1 and 4 points; Tenaya also improved in science, by 3 points. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile rankings declined for all four schools from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026, with Rivera dropping the most, 20 points. Tenaya also reported the highest chronic absenteeism, 31%, compared with 21%–25% at the other schools. For context, all four reported a free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–2025: 59% at Cruickshank, 82% at Rivera, 87% at Hoover, and 92% at Tenaya. These figures offer context, not an explanation for differences in results.
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