Summary:
The middle-school picture in Monterey Peninsula Unified includes two schools serving grades 7–8: Seaside Middle and Los Arboles Middle. In 2025–2026, both schools were below statewide proficiency levels in every supplied grade-and-subject comparison; the two-school average was 41% in ELA, 20% in math, and 23% in science, compared with 49%, 38%, and 36% statewide. Math is the clearest concern, especially 8th grade: proficiency was 14% at Seaside and 17% at Los Arboles, versus 36% statewide, with Seaside’s 23-point shortfall the largest in the supplied results.
Los Arboles leads on all-grades results, but its advantages are modest in ELA and math and larger in science. It scored 42% in ELA and 21% in math, compared with 40% and 20% at Seaside; the school-to-school gaps were 1 point in each subject. In science, Los Arboles had 27% proficiency versus Seaside’s 19%, an 8-point difference. Grade-level results offer an important exception: Seaside leads in 7th-grade ELA and math by 1 and 2 points, while Los Arboles leads in 8th-grade ELA by 3 points and math by 4.
ELA results moved closer to the state from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: the two-school average rose from 37% to 41%, and the average gap narrowed by about 4 points. Math and science moved farther behind as statewide results improved faster. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentiles rose from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026, from 25th to 31st for Seaside and 27th to 37th for Los Arboles; both schools have two stars. The latest year was less uniformly positive: Seaside stayed at the 31st percentile, while Los Arboles moved from 38th to 37th. As additional context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligibility was 84% at Seaside and 76% at Los Arboles; Los Arboles also had a lower student-teacher ratio, 17.8 versus 19.5. These are observations about the schools, not explanations for their results.
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