Sunrise Middle

Sunrise Middle is a public middle school serving 301 students in grades 5-8 in San Jose, part of the Sunrise Middle District, and serves a community where many families face economic challenges.

When compared to other local schools with similar student populations, Sunrise Middle often achieves stronger academic results; for instance, it outperforms nearby schools like ACE Inspire Academy and ACE Empower Academy in core subjects. The school shows particular strengths in supporting English learners and, notably, has shown remarkable recent success with homeless students. However, the school faces a significant challenge with chronic absenteeism, with over a third of students missing too much school, which is nearly double the state average and higher than most neighboring schools.

Two standout schools in the area, KIPP Heartwood Academy and Kipp Prize Preparatory Academy, achieve much higher test scores with similar students, but they also spend significantly more per student. Sunrise Middle operates with lower spending than many peers but gets better results than some, like Renaissance at Mathson. Key areas for improvement include science scores, which are very low, and inconsistent performance across different grade levels.