Summary
Fesler (Isaac) Junior High serves 974 students in grades 7–8 in Santa Maria, in an area that includes nearby middle and junior high schools. SchoolDigger places Fesler at the 10th percentile statewide, with 1 star, for 2025–26; the Santa Maria-Bonita district is at the 5th percentile, with 0 stars. The clearest academic concern is math: 12% of Fesler students were proficient in 2025–26, compared with 17% districtwide and 38% statewide.
Fesler’s strongest subject relative to the district is science: 17% were proficient, versus 15% districtwide, though the state rate was 36%. ELA proficiency was 25%, close to the district rate, but still below the 49% state rate. Compared with nearby schools, Fesler ranked third-lowest in ELA, second-lowest in math, and third-lowest in science. Nearby-school averages were 43% in ELA, 29% in math, and 28% in science. Only El Camino Junior High had a lower math result; its 11% proficiency was just below Fesler’s. Science is a relative bright spot locally and against the district, but remains well below the state.
Results have improved unevenly over four years: from 2022–23 to 2025–26, science rose 6 percentage points and math rose 2, while ELA fell 1 point overall despite a recent rebound. The state gap narrowed slightly in science, from 19.3 to 19.0 points, but widened in ELA and math. Fesler’s SchoolDigger percentile rose from 9 in 2024–25 to 10 in 2025–26, although its longer-term standing fell from 28 in 2014–15. SchoolDigger’s subgroup ranking shows a notably stronger relative result for Homeless Students: the school ranked at the 48th percentile for that group in 2025–26, compared with the 10th percentile overall. In 2024–25, 95% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible, the second-highest rate among nearby schools with the same measure; the nearby average was 74%. The 2024–25 student-teacher ratio was 20.0, close to the nearby average of 19.7. Chronic absenteeism fell from 34% in 2021–22 to 19% in 2025–26, but remained above the district’s 13% rate.
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